PITTI MUSEUM: COSTUME GALLERY

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PITTI MUSEUM: COSTUME GALLERY

Visit to the costume gallery of the Pitti Museum was educational and inspiring.
Current exposition not only revealed history of the dress but also explained that fashion its self was a response to the socio-economic changes in history of mankind. Decorations, ornaments and color when used in garment design are a sign of a flourishing economy, whereas straight minimalistic lines are the sign of the economic downturn. 

Dresses of the 50s embodied an optimistic mood of that era. We had a chance to take a picture of the Emilio Schubert dress circa 1950s. This dress is a perfect example of the “New Look” style, which was created by Dior, to celebrate the ending of the dark ages of World War 2. Big full skirt, colorful embroidery in one garment is typical for dresses of that period. 

Garments from 1930s are displayed in the next room these garments are reflected of the Great Depression era. Dresses are made of plain solid color fabric, simple straight-line silhouettes; designs were driven by pure economy of the fabric. At the same time, simple dresses were able to emphasize beauty of the female body with light fabric and plisse without sacrificing the esthetics.

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Source of the picture: http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/costume_gallery.html

--> An interesting fact that caught our attention is that not all of the elements of the garment originally were developed as pure decoration. One of these is curtain-like draping of the skirts’ hemline in the dresses of 19^th century. Consumption of the fabric demonstrated wealth; therefore skirts of rich women were made of layers of fabrics that restricted their movement. To ease movement of the wearer and to keep the hemlines of the skirts from the ground, silk ribbon sashes and bands were added to the skirts at first as a functional accessory and then developed as that of an embellishment. Today full skirts of 19^th century dresses are still an inspiration to the contemporary designers. 

 

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Source picture:

Http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/en/musei/?m=costume

By Mira Makashova and Alice Meng

2013-07-11

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