Pitti Palace, The Costume Gallery

In the Pitti Palace you can find many things: Art Galleries, Sculptures the beautiful Boboli garden and mesmerizing rooms. When you get a bit overwhelmed by the great art pieces of Titan, Rubens and Raphael it is a good idea to head to the Costume Gallery here. It is housed in a little section of the Museo degli Argenti. This beautiful exhibition displays 300 years of marvelous Italian creations, from 18th century principessa gowns to outrageously chic 1950s dresses.

Every room has different dresses from different centuries. It was very interesting to see how the costumes were changing during time and how some styles were repeating and that a lot of them even influence fashion today like: volumes, shapes and other little details. Besides the wonderful costumes and accessories by Gianfranco, Pucci, Givenchy the funeral garments of Elenora di Toledo, of her son Don Garzia and the Grand Duke Cosimo de´ Medici were the most interesting to me. When I saw the remaining garments from the 16th century I was impressed how well preserved they are until today. Apparently the body fluids of the diseased family let some of the parts of the garments remain. Of course not only this impressed me but also to see the rich and extraordinary garments the Medici family was wearing for their own funerals.

Everyone who is interested in fashion, art, history or just likes to see beautiful things should for sure visit this exhibition.

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Geraldine Stoiber / Roger Artiga 

The Article Review

The Article Review: Deluxe. How luxury lost its luster. By Dana Thomas.

(The Penguin Press, 2007)

“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury”

– Charlie Chaplin

One of the chapters in book written by Dana Thomas covered the topic of the day – the democratization of luxury fashion. This theme has been discusses in many influential Internet resources, such as The New York Times and The Business of Fashion and has risen a lot of debates among fashion business insiders.

In the times when luxury is becoming a consumerism and fashion brands are eager for nothing but money this topic is indeed raising its importance. The constant fight between creativity and commerce now seems to move towards the latter one.

An interesting issue that the author discussed in her book was that designers are now “as disposable as bags and clothes that they create”. But personally for me, though I completely agree with this point, designers, who stand behind almost each single brand in the industry, count now more than ever before. Having a designer is becoming a must for a fashion brand. Have a look at Ermenegildo Zegna – the strategic decision of hiring the designer for the brand, though 100% a business move, has a very specific strategy at the bottom line – to show that the brand cares for the image, cares for the style and cares for preservation of this image and style.

Or lets look at Mulberry – soon after the brand fired its creative director its shares dropped drastically at the stock market. Why? Because now it seems that without the creative director the brand does not have the vision, does not have the creative strategy. And what is a brand without the clear fashion vision? In minds of most of the people in the fashion industry – nothing.

Probably the reason for such negative review of the author of the book is due to the year the article was published, which is 2007. Now I believe its time for change. Designers now have (or at least they are starting to have) the strength to dictate the rules of the game.

I still cannot decide whether democratization of fashion is positive or negative thing. Apparently both, as it depends from which side to judge. Bu one thing is obvious – we are loosing the sense of luxury. And it happened not because everyone has become more affluent; it is because luxury became too affordable. I fall in love with an expression from the book, which once and for all explained everything: “When you get greedy, that’s was happens”. Indeed, luxury brands are now everywhere (starting from cellphones and finishing with hotels), and “customers are as bored with all this as the brands themselves”. And I’m glad that nowadays many brands start to realize this and change their strategy. Luxury giants are starting to refer to “small, old-fashioned luxury” while working out the future strategy. 

With all these happening in the luxury market (which is probably not that luxurious any more), vintage stores are on a rise. Now vintage clothes provide you with the uniqueness, which used to be provided by contemporary pieces designed by luxury brands.  At the same we start to appreciate more “independent” designers, who do not fall for money and still care for their unique image and the status of scarcity, like Alice Cadolle, Christian Louboutin, Hermes and Tom Ford.

But while we are shouting about the democratization of fashion, luxury brands are still doing their core 100% luxury business – providing their very special clients with very special products. The “commercial side” of luxury discussed above is basically its entry-level, there is other side of this business which is not obvious for most of us, the side that gives all the luxury brands huge percentage of their total income – special orders. No logos, no labels, just completely custom-made, special, unique pieces of garments, jewelry and jewelry cases, bags, luggage, and etc. – things that could not be found inside the store and which represent pure luxury.  

Another interesting point in the chapter was the Daslu shopping venture in San Paolo, Brazil. While reading about Daslu I started to think that despite the fact that this shopping paradise provides its customers with the same products that can be found in all other luxury stores (though the variety is indeed impressive), it is the approach to business that makes it luxury, not the products themselves. Truly personal, “VIP” approach combined with a friendly atmosphere and the best products from each single brand – that is the new approach to generate the consumer demand for luxury products.

Therefore, it is only partly true that luxury business starts to be too commercial to be called “luxury”. While fashion conglomerates try to buy and commercialize all the fashion brands in the world, there are still people, for whom these brads will do truly luxurious products and there will still be “highly successful, purposefully small, designer-owned-and-run companies that produce impeccably made items” and for whom quality will still be more important than quantity. And even if these approaches will not be able to create truly luxury experience there will be ventures that will create luxury by their approach to customers.    

Kseniya.

The Stibbert Museum Visit

Previously private the Stibbert museum holds the name of its founder Frederic Stibbert, half Scotsman, half Italian collector, artist, traveler, just to name a few of the titles of this noble man.

Stibbert’s grand, personal collection includes huge variety of exhibits such as clothes, pieces of furniture, tapestries and paintings from 16^th to 19^th century, which exhibited in his own Villa di Montughi. But this villa-museum is mainly famous for the collection of arms and suits of armors that comprises an incredible number of varying and rare pieces from 15^th to the 17^th centuries. Majority of arms are European, although there are Oriental, Persian, Indian and Islamic ones. One of the most stunning views for me was the parade of fully equipped horses and riders that represented the Italian, German and Islamic arms and suits of armors belonging to the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Warriors on horses reminded me the warriors on display in the Museum of Natural History in New York, but I must say the Florentine version was way more impressive, due to the ambience of Stibbert museum itself.

The method of display, with little artificial lighting and different objects from various centuries gathered together in one room, might seem a little strange for someone, but it definitely created a very special atmosphere inside the museum – very intimate, historic and full of mystery. This approach, created by Frederic Stibbert himself and preserved by the government of Florence, make this museum and the collection worth seeing. 

Kseniya.

The Costume Gallery Visit

Though I was expecting to see much larger collection of costumes from different centuries, the National Costume Gallery still has a very beautiful assortment of mostly evening dresses from various designers from different decades and époques.

The museum truly represents the evolution of the dress and its close connection to the culture of the period of its creation. New dress shapes and models were developing according to some economic, aesthetic and/or moral changes in the society. By analyzing the silhouette, the shape and the details of one particular dress it is possible to find out many interesting facts about the status of the owner and the decade itself.

For example, in the eighteenth century layering, wearing similar garments one over another, making sleeves longer than the arms and reaching beyond the hemline was the way of showing wealth and high status. 

In the same way, full, wide shapes that required large amounts of fabric and expensive decorations and embroideries, like the crinoline skirt, were the symbols of economic growth and stability of the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, the period when the textile industry was prosperous. Then the crisis and the two World Wars brought extreme changes to the world, which of course were reflected in fashion. During this period we may observe the robe-de-style skirt, which substituted heavy full skirts and represented the new beginning, the new era, the desire to turn away from past and look and move foreword with hope and optimism.

Interesting for me was to explore the connection between the male and female dresses. From the late nineteenth century men’s jacket became an essential part of women’s wardrobe and reflected the desire of women to have equal rights with men. The fabric dictated the occasion, and the jacket became even more important than the coat or overcoat.  

One designer, whose creations were displayed in the gallery, was definitely dominating the scene. It was Gianfranco Ferre. His collection of dresses was indeed impressive. After visiting the museum I realized why this designer was called the “architecture of fashion”. He had a unique ability to construct a dress by “playing” with volume. “The concept of construction is the same,” Ferre used to say. “Architecture is a search for a solution of form, shape, and color. So, too, is fashion. With both, you begin with a story.” Now Gianfranco Ferre’s creations serve as a great source of inspiration for many contemporary designers.

Therefore, once again I was able to see deep connection of fashion and history. And I am sure that fashion museum and galleries is the best way to make people take fashion seriously. Dress is not simply a dress. Dress is the representation of values, status, mindset, and culture of its owner. And who knows how unusual will our contemporary dress will look for museum visitor of the 22^nd century.    

Kseniya.