Silk Exhibition at Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Florence

For five thousand years, the thin, shiny thread generated by the slime of a lepidoptera has spawned the most beautiful of fabrics, the silk, symbol of royalty, elegance and luxury, tool of exchange between East and West, emblem of civilization and culture. And it is above all in the carré-shaped neck handkerchief, due to its nature as a “painting“, that Fashion and the textile industry experimented with an infinite range of creative solutions, always looking for original and exclusive designs. 

This exhibition aims to reveal the long and complex process that leads to the creation of a printed silk scarf, the perfect union of extraordinary creative intuition and high-level industrial craftsmanship, taking as its example the Maison Salvatore Ferragamo, an Italian fashion company that has made this accessory, together with the tie, one of the most widely-acknowledged vectors of its style.

Until 1950, the Ferragamo name was synonymous with women’s footwear. The brand’s founder, Salvatore, dreamed of transforming his internationally renowned brand into a fashion label that dressed a woman from head to toe. His dream came true, but only after his death.

Indeed, it was one of his daughters, Fulvia, who launched in the 1970s the continuous production of women’s and men’s silk accessories with personalized patterns characterized by prints made in Como with exclusive decorative subjects, especially flowers and exotic animals formed by a patchwork of flowers.

This creative world overflows with inspirational references, from oriental art to twentieth-century paintings, from works of art at many museums to ancient tomes on botany and the natural sciences, initially presented either in the rare books rooms of many libraries, or known through more recent reproductions.

more. www.ferragamo.com