Salvatore Ferragamo
Dromedario (single-humped camel)

Fall/Winter 1972–73
Printed cotton

Museo Ferragamo, Florence ’In 1971, Fulvia, one of the daughters of Salvatore and Wanda Ferragamo, persuaded her mother to produce printed silk scarves and accessories with the Ferragamo brand. In this way, the first scarves were created with the original designs: animals made from a patchwork of flowers.’ p. 101

Italian Textile Design: From Art Deco to the Contemporary

by Vittorio Linfante, Massimo Zanella et al.

ISBN 979-1254630891
In English, German or Italian

’My prints are ornamental designs worked in continuous motion. However they are placed, they have rhythm.’

Il Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento (1914–1992) Florentine designer, Prince of Prints & glamour

So begins this well-researched and lavishly-illustrated volume which might well prove its leitmotiv. The authors bring to life their subject with a mixture of sensitivity, deep erudition, and a forensic eye for detail.

Synonymous with luxury, ’Italy led the way in terms of artistic invention and design with the industrialio production of fabrics in the course of just over a century.’

TM King Umberto II (1904–1983) and Queen Maria José (1906–2001) of Italy exemplified this élan.

Not only does the reader come away with a deeper understanding of the global fascination for European decorative arts, but much more specifically fabrics for both clothing, and furnishings in residences as well as commercial interiors, including floating ones.

Fortunately, we in the Bernese Alps needn’t venture far to view one of the world’s most important textile collections in the museum known as the Abegg-Stiftung, open from 28 April – 10 November 2024.

Both passionate and insightful, this superb study of the history and meaning behind Italian textile design in the last hundred years reminds many a fashion aficionado of the bygone, halcyon days of youth.

ALAN NAZAR IPEKIAN

Valentino
Panther
Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1967
Printed silk
Chicago History Museum
’It is no coincidence that [longtime Gstaad resident] Valentino chose the “black panther” print to create this 1967 evening gown. The Black Panther Party had been founded in California the previous year. Feminism, civil  rights protests, environmental movements, and the Vietnam war greatly influenced clothing design.’ p. 95