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Is the phrase, the Passion of Italian Fashion, a cliché? While this writer will always cherish a deep, dark, wistfully sentimental affinity with glamour, it’s a word that has been sullied with a decidedly unfair amount of derisory tarnish, certainly throughout the fleeting course of the 21st century so far. Passion however is glamour, it’s only lifeline is passion, it would be almost obsolete without passion, and would tragically be a semántica extinct without strength, but the phrase “Strength of Italian Fashion” would be all too un-glamorous for many. It’s a callous, complex circle, but that’s glamour for you.
The V&A’s spring exhibition, The Glamour of Italian Fashion, peculiarly, the first major show to not only scratch the glitzy surface, but unravel and examine the way Italy’s exuberant sartorial contributions have informed international fashion and also the most exciting cultural intervals, since rising victoriously out of the ashes of World War Two. This takes strength, and the V&A have made sure to note the strength as a source of both “dynamic menswear and glamorous womenswear”, though this fails to capture the inviting, archetypally Latin, ardour that attempts to sweep one off their feet the moment they enter the show. Accordingly, curator Sonnet Stanfill has scrupulously mined the museum’s archives for all and any references to the Glamour of Italian Fashion, attempting, quite apparently, to illustrate why glamour has always been the cornerstone of Italianate fashion. Per contra, it’s challenging for glamour and humility to share the same space, and this exacerbates the overriding whiff of trite British humility, insomuch as even just a slight whiff is far too much. Then again, we are conferring with superlative craftsmanship, along with righteous heritage, quality and style here, so let’s just say a little reticent virtue goes a long way too, but we’ll leave that for you to decide.
But vitally, the V&A’s decision to host this show was a very well-chosen one – an Italian excursion is a superb escape from London’s inevitable rainy spells, and where else are you going to see a compilation of Italy’s finest fabrics materialised in an exposition of memorable cuts and drapes. Evidently, an ongoing appetite for anything “made in Italy” is all about smouldering reputation, and you will fall under its dopamine-inducing spell while venturing through time, from 1945 – 2014.
Initially, the most intriguing ground is covered at the outset of the show, taking an evocative look at luscious Sala Bianca landmark catwalk shows, before edging closer to La Dolce Vita, when the world became captivated by zippy screen portrayals embodied by iconic symbols such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. The prominence of ready-to-wear, a new Milanese language, then enters the conversation, eventually celebrated by the cognoscenti in the 1970s and ‘80s, opening the floodgates for the kind of luxury that put’s one’s lifestyle in check, and as Anna Piaggi put it, “the cult of the fashion designer” was born.
The V&A makes great use of space when they want to, the penultimate stage of the exhibition pans out in a glorious catwalk structure, capturing Italy’s new millennia world stage, in contrast to the sometimes sedentary procession of the earlier exhibits on show. Concluding in a dim theatre space, a series of filmed interviews with pivotal contemporary forces in Italian fashion, from Franca Sozzani to Fausto Puglisi, unavoidably bring about a niggling, rather uneasy, bathos – especially when one particular protagonist, Jacopo Etro, proposes that Italian fashion needs to “wake up”. Though, you’ll find it hard to be whisked out of the exhibit without picking up just a thing or two, if you didn’t know true style is all about the ensemble, you will be able to see exactly 120 of them at the V&A.
Some unexpected hidden gems emerge, from some ‘70s disco dare, courtesy of Fiorucci, to widely unknown mid-century couturiers, the upper echelon females behind the force who undeniably created the lap of luxury. However, all in all, glamour demands just a little more commitment, perhaps a little more tenacity on the V&A’s part, and a statement Medici air, which should have been carried through each level of the exhibition, would have been more fitting, this is Italian fashion after all, if anything, it deserves it.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of the V&A
The Glamour of Italian Fashion is at the V&A until July 27