At the Fabbricone in Prato a tribute to Walter Albini, genius of Italian prêt-à-porter

From Nov. 22 to Nov. 30, with a special preview on the 16th and 17th, Prato’s Fabbricone, the historic home of Balli il Lanificio, opens its doors to the exhibition Omaggio a Walter Albini, a tribute to the great Italian fashion innovator Walter Albini (Busto Arsizio, 1941 - Milan, 1983), considered the father of prêt-à-porter. The exhibition was created as a spin-off of a larger exhibition project dedicated to Albini, curated by the Prato Textile Museum and still on view at Polo Campolmi from March 22 to Nov. 30, 2024. Architect Filippo Boretti, co-curator of the event, is presenting for the first time twelve of the designer’s original designs, part of the museum’s collections, conceived for the characters in Latina, Luca Ronconi’s 1982 opera noir, which has never been produced in the theater. The costumes imagined by Albini for this play, therefore, never took shape. Clothes dreamed of and never worn, which today finally find life. Starting from those timelessly drawn designs, the Balli style office, with the help of fabrics from the latest collection and advice from the Textile Museum, has made five exclusive costumes, faithfully respecting the lines and volumes imagined by Albini, but with a contemporary twist. They include a women’s coat, a classic Chanel suit, a children’s jacket, a tunic and a dress with overcoat. Indeed, the garments, authentic examples of haute couture, show how culture can thrive even within a company.

Balli il Lanificio gives voice to Italian textile culture by promoting craftsmanship, creativity, passion and experience, but also tradition, innovation and attention to detail. Values that have always defined its identity and are now transformed into an open dialogue on issues central to the Italian textile industry. Homage to Walter Albini represents a meeting point between fashion, theater and textile tradition, a hymn to the innovative spirit that has made Prato a center of industrial and cultural excellence. The Fabbricone thus becomes a unique space capable of offering exhibitions, events and appointments of great artistic and cultural value, enhancing the territory and its rich history. A place where the textile heritage is intertwined with art, architecture and tourism, testifying to the beauty (and goodness) that this territory knows how to give.

“From this perspective, the step taken by Balli seems natural. From manufacturing factory to culture factory. From a company, which for more than seventy years has been making textiles sold everywhere in the world, to a hub of initiatives capable of opening new dialogues with the community,” stresses Leonardo Raffaelli, managing director of Balli il Lanificio. “Our exhibition dedicated to Albini, created in close collaboration with the Museo del Tessuto, marks the debut of a cultural palimpsest signed Balli. Other events over time will follow.”

Notes on the artist

A native of Varese and a citizen of the world, Albini is an art lover and lover of beauty. Since childhood on his albums he has been drawing clothes, just clothes. Then as a boy he dropped out of classical high school and enrolled in a fashion school in Turin. And from there his extraordinary journey begins. An eclectic personality, his, which soon brought him alongside many other sacred monsters of high fashion. He designed, signed collections, created models, and worked tirelessly on his own or for major brands. As early as the mid-1960s, mixing creativity, genius and foresight, he succeeded, with the naturalness of the greats, in the extraordinary goal of bringing high fashion from the atelier to the factory. It was also on his impulse that, in 1975, Milan kicked off the first Fashion Week to launch Italian ready-to-wear in the world. Albini today is studied in the Academies, he is taken as an example, he is a source of inspiration. There is no doubt, his role in the evolutionary process of the fashion system has been fundamental, interrupted unfortunately by a death, in 1983, that was really too premature.

Practical information

Hours:

Monday - Friday: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Free admission (reservations are appreciated)

Last admission half an hour before closing.

At the Fabbricone in Prato a tribute to Walter Albini, genius of Italian prêt-à-porter

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