Fashion as a lens through which to explore Rome and a bygone era. An exhibition

Fashion exhibitions often run the risk of all looking the same. A succession of extraordinary garments, carefully lit, accompanied by vintage photographs that evoke nostalgia and perhaps set to a captivating soundtrack. The public admires the display, recognises a few famous names, takes photos and moves on. History remains in the background. “‘Moda in Luce 1955–1975’, at the Centrale Montemartini, avoids this mosaic effect that often amounts to a facile shortcut. Not because the garments aren’t important (given the quality of the loans, some are genuine masterpieces, from Valentino’s first red dress to the creations of Capucci, Forquet, Galitzine and Lagerfeld for Fendi), but because they are never treated as relics. They become characters in a broader narrative: that of the city of Rome, which, between the 1950s and 1970s, forged a new international identity. The interesting aspect of the exhibition lies precisely in this balance between research and curatorial design.

Fabiana Giacomotti, who has also been editor of Foglio Moda since 2021, constructs a narrative based on the heritage of the Luce Archive, whilst resisting the temptation to adopt a didactic chronological approach. Fashion is in constant dialogue with cinema, industry, journalism, urban planning, art, and the social metamorphosis of a country discovering its economic boom and inventing the ‘Made in Italy’ brand. Rome is not merely the backdrop; it is the principal supporting character. This curatorial clarity is matched by an imaginative exhibition design. The design of the exhibition spaces is entrusted to Dario Dalla Lana, who eschews spectacular effects in favour of transforming these industrial heritage spaces into a sequence of environments to be walked through, rather than merely observed. Corridors lined with photographs, rooms evoking fashion studios, large backlit images, lightweight display cases and graphic walls. Every design choice serves the narrative without overshadowing it. Moving images, rear-projections and the editing of film footage create a cinematic rhythm that guides the visitor. A compelling example of how exhibition architecture can interpret a curatorial project rather than merely housing it. The garments coexist in relation to the photographs that made them iconic, reminding us that the success of Italian fashion also stems from its ability to be photographed, filmed and disseminated. There is no separation here between the history of costume and the history of the media; one has always fuelled the other. It is no coincidence that Palma Bucarelli features in the exhibition.

The long-standing director of the National Gallery of Modern Art is portrayed as an intellectual capable of viewing elegance as part of visual culture rather than merely its adornment, demonstrating that in Rome during those years, fashion did not originate solely in tailors’ workshops or at Cinecittà, but also in museums. Fashion does not appear as a world separate from art, but shares the same cultural system, audience and language (this remains true today, though for different reasons). Visitors leave the exhibition with an unusual sensation. Rather than having visited a fashion exhibition, they have the impression of having journeyed through a cultural era that remains so very much alive in our collective imagination. The garments reflect the taste that was taking hold as it spread, but above all they convey an idea of modernity, of industry and of collective aspiration. This is perhaps the greatest achievement of ‘Moda in Luce’: to demonstrate that a fashion exhibition can speak, even before it speaks of elegance and style, of society.