Models wearing Valentino, Rome, 1958. Photo by Federico Garolla

Bellissima: Italy and High Fashion at Fondazione MAXXI

Over 20 years of fashion in an exhibition that recreates the atmosphere and the styles of a period that made an extraordinary contribution to the definition of the Italian identity on an international scale, a wonderful season of pure Italian creativity.

Models wearing Sorelle Fontana, Terme di Diocleziano, Rome, 1948. Photo by Pasquale De Antonis

Bellissima: Italy and High Fashion 1945-1968 is not a history of high fashion, but, rather, the attempt to reassemble, through the lens of today, the complex and ever-changing image of Italian fashion, in a choral account made up of many exemplary stories that are the very fabric that will give shape and consistency to the great success of the “made in Italy” label.

Image courtesy of Fondazione MAXXI

From the spectacular creations that lit up the grand balls and foyers of the theaters, accompanied by the glittering expressions of the finest jewelry, to the restrained elegance of the cocktail dresses; from the rigorous black and white graphic look, to the chromatic explosion so typical of the 1960s; from the inventions made for the actresses of the so-called Hollywood on the Tiber, to the results of the sophisticated formal research that was the fruit of the intense collaboration between couturiers and artists.  

Image courtesy of Münchner Stadtmuseum. Photo by Regina Relang

Works by artists including Carla Accardi, Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana dialogue with the clothes of Emilio Schuberth and the Sorelle Fontana, of Germana Marucelli and Mila Schön, of Sarli and Simonetta, of Capucci and Gattinoni, of Fendi, Balestra, Biki, Galitzine, Pucci and Valentino. The exhibition also features the creations of Bulgari, the most famous Italian jeweller around the world, with a selection of unique pieces displaying great experimentation and stylistic innovation.

more. www.fondazionemaxxi.it