From Capucci to Giò Ponti, an exhibition in Gorizia on fashion and design in the 1950s

To be held in Gorizia, at the Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts, the exhibition Italia Cinquanta. Fashion and Design. Birth of a Style, dedicated to the myth of theItalian Style that took shape 70 years ago, in the 1950s, when Italy, recovering from the wounds of war, chose to attack the future. Soon the so-called “Italian Miracle” would come , with its greatnesses and frailties, but that myth has never dimmed, gradually qualifying until it became the plus of our country in the most diverse sectors. From March 21 to Aug. 27, 2023, the exhibition, curated by Carla Cerutti, Enrico Minio Capucci and Raffaella Sgubin, joined in the work by a large group of important specialists, rereads that historical moment in the light of two specific components: fashion and design, including in the latter the tradition of applied arts, the strong point of Italian production, which was more artisanal in past eras. On the sidelines a third “factor,” cinema, which of that Italian Style was a very powerful means of planetary amplification.

The exhibition is promoted and organized by ERPAC FVG - Ente Regionale per il Patrimonio Culturale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, through its Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts in the premises of Palazzo Attems Petzenstein, in the heart of Gorizia (future European Capital of Culture together with Nova Gorica in 2025).

The time span examined is ideally the one between the elections of April 18, 1948 and the 1960 Rome Olympics, a period of economic and cultural rebirth, of great fecundity from both the industrial and artistic and artisanal points of view, an auroral moment of Italian design that would become famous as “Made in Italy.”

The section devoted to design and applied arts will range from furniture to lamps, ceramics to glass, metals to furnishing fabrics, carpets and tapestries, choosing among the most exemplary excellences of the period, both creatively and innovatively: the furniture designed by Franco Albini, Gio Ponti, Osvaldo Borsani, Gastone Rinaldi, Carlo Mollino, Ico Parisi, Marco Zanuso, Vico Magistretti, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, made by Poggi, Cassina, Fornasetti, Arflex, Azucena, Tecno, Fontana Arte, Rima, the lamps at the’avant-garde of Gino Sarfatti, Angelo Lelii, Max Ingrand and the Castiglioni brothers, the ceramics entrusted to industrial production by Guido Andlovitz, Antonia Campi, Giovanni Gariboldi, Piero Fornasetti, Ettore Sottsass and those more “niche” ones created by Guido Gambone, Guerrino Tramonti, Salvatore Meli, Pietro Melandri, Alessio Tasca, the San Polo or, again, the “auteur” ones by Lucio Fontana, Fausto Melotti and Leoncillo Leonardi.

Murano’s extremely rich and extraordinary production will be exemplified through the best of Venini & C. (Fulvio Bianconi and Paolo Venini), Aureliano Toso (Dino Martens), Barovier & Toso (Ercole Barovier), and Archimede Seguso, as well as Flavio Poli’s submerged glassware for Seguso Vetri d’Arte and Giulio Radi’s precious polychrome reactions. Completing the innovative picture of furniture were precious enamels by Paolo De Poli and Studio Del Campo, some designed by Gio Ponti, silverware by Lino Sabattini, Eros Genazzi, and new industrial steel production by Sambonet and Alessi. There could be no shortage of fabrics, carpets and tapestries to accompany all this: from Piero Fornasetti’s bursting imagination to the sketches, fabrics and tapestries of Oscar and Fausto Saccorotti, Enrico Paulucci and Emanuele Rambaldi for MITA, printed cottons from JSA and MTS, and “designer” carpets from Renata Bonfanti’s workshop. Contributing to recreating the atmosphere of the boom years are some iconic examples of industrial design, such as the Phonola 17/18 adjustable television set from 1956, the Cifra 5 mechanical clock by Solari, and also the 1950 Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter and the 1957 Necchi Mirella sewing machine, both designed by Marcello Nizzoli and awarded the Compasso d’Oro, the world’s most authoritative design prize, established in 1954. A section of the exhibition will be devoted to this theme.

The 1950s also represented a decade of fundamental importance for fashion, so much so that the official birth of Italian fashion can be traced back to 1951, thanks to the enlightened initiative of Giovan Battista Giorgini, an entrepreneur who had the intuition to bring together in Florence the most important creative talents of the moment, selected from among those who chose not to be inspired by trends coming from Paris, which had been considered the home of fashion since the 18th century. Thus began the fabulous season of the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti, the exceptional setting for fashion shows that gathered buyers from all over the world, laying the foundations of the Italian Fashion phenomenon. A selection of the period’s most significant designs, dresses and accessories will be on display, including creations by Emilio Pucci, Emilio Schuberth, Roberto Capucci, Simonetta, Alberto Fabiani, Sorelle Fontana, Jole Veneziani, Gattinoni, Biki, Curiel, Marucelli, Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo. These signatures counted among their clientele Hollywood movie stars such as Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Esther Williams, as well as “homegrown” divas such as Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, and Elsa Martinelli. At the end of the decade he would open his Valentino atelier, which would imprint the following decades with his style.

In promoting nascent Italian fashion on the international stage, unique ingredients such as Italy’s cultural heritage, top-notch craftsmanship and the showcase offered by film productions were skillfully mixed. If the national fashion capitals were Rome, Florence and Milan, creative talents destined for great success were being prepared in the northeast. Renato Balestra of Trieste was an esteemed designer for Schuberth and the Sorelle Fontana during the period under consideration, but he would open his own atelier at the end of the decade; Gigliola Curiel was already operating in Milan. Mila Schön and Ottavio Missoni, both from Dalmatia, were appearing on the fashion scene precisely in the 1950s to triumph in the following decade.

The Design and Applied Arts section will host about 150 pieces, from public and private collections, and will be curated by Carla Cerutti, already co-curator with Raffaella Sgubin of the exhibition “Futurism. Fashion. Design” in 2009, and will benefit from the scientific advice of the Association of Archives of Italian 20th Century Applied Arts.

The Fashion section will be curated by Enrico Minio Capucci and Raffaella Sgubin with the partnership of the Roberto Capucci Foundation and the collaboration of Giovan Battista Giorgini’s Archives of Italian Fashion and CSAC (Center for Studies and Archives of Communication) of the University of Parma. The garments on display will come from the Enrico Quinto and Paolo Tinarelli Collection, the Roberto Capucci Foundation, and the archives of fashion houses, such as the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, the Germana Marucelli Association, the Micol Fontana Foundation, and the Emilio Pucci Archive Foundation. The installation is curated by Roberto Festi.

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Mondays, every first Sunday of the month free admission, closed Easter Day but open Easter Monday. Tickets: full 6 euros, reduced 3 euros for 18-25 year olds, groups of at least 10 people, households with minors, Coop members, Cec members, Fai members.

Image: Gio Ponti, Watermelon (1956; executed Paolo De Poli-Padova; enamel on copper, 10 x 24 x 12 cm; Brescia, private collection) © Brescia, Fotostudio Rapuzzi

From Capucci to Giò Ponti, an exhibition in Gorizia on fashion and design in the 1950s

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