CNMI announces "ITALIANA. L'ITALIA VISTA DALLA MODA 1971 - 2001"
Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana is pleased to present Italiana. Narrating Italian History through Fashion 1971-2001, a project composed of an exhibitionand a book both in celebration of Italian fashion. The former will take place atMilan’s Palazzo Reale, a destination bringing together the worlds of art and culture.ITALIANA is a project that looks to celebrate the country’s fashion by retracingthat crucial period – the years from 1971 to 2001 in which the national fashionsystem’s ascent was fueled by the overseas success of Made in Italy and itsunmistakable lifestyle. This time frame marked a pivotal, captivating periodcharacterized by fruitful collaborations and exchanges among the membersof an Italian generation including artists, architects, designers and intellectuals who shaped the cultural evolution.
Composed of rooms featuring different themes, ITALIANA focuses on both the main characters and the supporting cast who emerged together as the protagonists in different stages across the Italian fashion system’s development. These moments include the early period defined by the establishment of highend industrial production (1971 marked the transition from haute couture to the rise of Italian ready-to-wear. Not coincidentally, that same year Walter Albini organized a show in Milan to present its namesake line); the success of designers in the Eighties; the glocalization of the Nineties, and then 2001. The year was marked by the September 11 attacks, which shook up the whole international system and thus affected the Italian fashion business. The industry was forced to change and turn into a new global phenomenon – still to be understood in all its creative and productive forms.
The word Italiana is an adjective, but in this case, it is to be considered a noun that collects all the items, styles and atmospheres belonging to Italian culture in its multiple facets and expressions. Fashion, in this project, is the chosen point of view. This project comes into being as a strategic effort to develop a dictionary of mythology by narrating all the events involving designers, companies, cities and districts as their protagonists – producing treasure that is unparalleled elsewhere in the world and that continues to exercise its influence over the current Italian scenario.
Rather than following chronological order, the exhibit will unfold at Palazzo Reale over the course of several chapters dedicated to distinct themes – using a critical method that combines events from different decades.
A selection of iconic objects from varying fields, including fashion, art, design, photography and publishing, highlights specific turning points in time.
The book, scheduled for release in conjunction with the exhibition opening, completes the project. Conceived as a special tool, the volume will explain the development of Italian fashion as a polycentric phenomenon boosted by different skills and cultural approaches. Photographs taken by photographers for both magazines and designers document Italian fashion’s successful evolution. New texts provide information and insight on the lesser known topics. The book juxtaposes these contents with a selection of previously published pieces written by Italian authors during the decades analyzed throughout the project.
Massimo De Carlo’s gallery, one of the most emblematic international locations for contemporary art, will host the presentation of ITALIANA.
Main Sponsor: YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP
Project in collaboration with: POMELLATO
Mannequins: LA ROSA MANNEQUINS SINCE 1922
