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Italian Fashion Newsletter - January 1999
The Alta Moda in Rome is Back?
Here We Go Again
Once upon a time, boys and girls, Rome occupied a very important place in the Italian fashion scene. The first Italian international fashion shows attracting press and buyers from Europe and the US took place in Florence in the early fifties, originally at the home of Count Giorgini, who ran a buying office for some of the large American department stores. These shows evolved into the bi-annual event in the large ornate "Sala Bianca" of Palazzo Pitti, and took their place in the International Fashion Calendar. Emilio Pucci, Irene Galitzine, and Simonetta and Fabiani were among the big stars. At the beginning of the sixties, however, some of the high fashion designers from Rome such as Fabiani, Carosa, Roberto Capucci and others insisted on showing their designs on their own turf in Rome, so an agreement was reached: the alta moda or high fashion designers would show in Rome, and the ready-to wear houses would continue their twice-yearly shows at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. (Milan came later, in the early eighties)
Caption: Sophia Loren toasting with champagne, circa 1958 For about 10 years the high fashion shows in Rome were a real event, with fashion press stars like John Fairchild of Womens Wear Daily and Bernadine Morris of the New York Times (after Times reporter Gloria Emerson decided she preferred covering the Vietnam war), and Patricia Shelton of the Christian Science Monitor occupying gilt front-row seats in the ateliers. Valentino hit his stride here, along with Andre Laug, Patrick de Barentzen, Ognibene Zendeman, Mila Schon, Pino Lancetti, and others. Front-row seats were filled with celebrity guests from the jet set, there were lavish after-show parties in the evening, and the wire services AP and UPI sent out three and four reports daily. Unfortunately, however, the organizers got a bit arrogant and tried to stretch out the shows for too many days. The atmosphere of the seventies with terrorism, kidnappings, and the Red Brigades didn't help, either. So during the seventies and eighties some of the stars dropped out, Valentino moved his mega-show (which was the biggeet attraction) to Paris, Andre Laug died, Robert Capucci decided he was an artist and not a fashion designer and limited himself to showing in art museums, and Lancetti stopped showing regularly. The long downhill slide started.
Caption: Sophia Loren at the Valentino show in Rome around 1989 For the past ten years the high fashion collections in Rome have been a shadow of what they once were, but to keep the faith and support the designers as well as the fabric manufacturers and specialized artisans the Camera Nazionale della Moda has done its best to keep them going. Unfortunately, instead of concentrating the shows into two or three days maximum but keeping the quality high they have admitted to the schedule some houses that cannot really be considered high fashion. Although not as large and important as in the north, there is an active fashion ready to wear production present in Rome and the surrounding area, with a number of activities that have emerged such as Swish and l'Altra Moda even if they can hardly be considered Alta Moda or high fashion. (Rome fashion stars Fendi and Laura Biagiotti have never considered themselves to be high fashion and always showed in Florence and later Milan, but they constitute an important presence on the Rome fashion scene.)
Enter the Agenzia per la Moda, originally called Agenzia della Moda Roma, to the rescue. (At least they hoped so) The original concept by Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli and the City Counselor for Tourism Gentiloni along with the president of the Rome Chamber of Commerce Andrea Mandella was to create an organization similar to the New York Film Commission (which Rome has also copied) which would offer assitance to fashion companies in and around Rome in finding places for their fashion shows, for advertising shoots, and organizing events to promote Rome fashion. One of the original ideas was to hire a 747 to fly designers and models around the world to stage fashion shows. Sophia Loren was asked to be president and she accepted.Caption: Sophia Loren arrives at press conference with son Edoardo (left), Mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli (right) and sister Maria Sciccolone (far right) Fast forward to June 12 when, at a press conference reminiscent of "dolce vita" days. The ambitious program of the new Agenzia was presented at the palatial Villa Miani. Donna Sophia, as the photographers now call her, has migrated from Dior in the seventies to Valentino in the eighties to Giorgio Armani in the nineties, but nobody explained exactly what the President would "do" and when the ugly question of money was raised the press was sold that she would be "reimbursed for her expenses." Newspapers reported that the budget for the Agenzia is 5 billion lire (around $2,800,000) a year.
The Agenzia's plans are ambitious, including combining fashion and cinema, and present new films at the same time as the shows. Plans are to launch a cable channel named in honor of Sofia that will broadcast fashion news 12 hours a day, with repeats the other 12 hours. Cost: 12 billion lire ($ 6,87,000). An effort has been made to offer alternative locations where the designers can present their shows, since it was decided that the 300,000 million lire (about $ 200,000) it cost to put up a temporary tent in the park was going to cost too much. They presented the July 1998 shows at the Beaubourg-like Palazzo delle Esibizione, but for January 1999 they are back with the tent in the park.
Caption: Mercedes Convertible "Earthly Paradise" by Hiro Yamagata To add to the prestige of the shows last July several projects to spotlight art were announced: For a week the upper part of Via Veneto was closed to traffic in order to display 10 cars decorated with the artwork of Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata ("Earthly Paradise") who is famous for painting Mercedes cars. Hotels along Via Veneto displayd large Polaroid portraits of film stars (50x60 centimeters) done with a special camera. The Palazzo delle Esposizione on Via Nazionale featured an exhibit of fashions "Story of Fashion" from 1945 to 1960 organized by Bonizza Aragno Giordana. Franca Sozzani brought an exhibit of 300 photographs by Peter Lindberg. This was all very nice but to be honest, it didn't do much to promote Italian high fashion on an international scale. And there was no sight of Sophia.
Next: Some Humble Suggestions for the Alta ModaLogan Bentley Lessona
