Traces 2018. Letting fashion drive you. (Lasciarsi Guidare dalla Moda)

A new exhibition dedicated to the relationship between fashion, art and travel has just opened in the Museum of Fashion and Costume at Palazzo Pitti.

Lasciarsi guidare dalla moda – Letting fashion drive you, is the perfect title for the new display at the Museum of Fashion and Costume. The links among creations by stylists-artists and artists-couturiers who worked from 1930s to the present day –a visually and aesthetically rich period –are emphasised through juxtapositions.

The title is instantly evocative of styles gone by, at times silenced by predictable choices. The exhibition set up in the Museum of Fashion and Costume, however, marks a change in the criteria so far followed for this kind of event. The 107 pieces showcased – including clothes, accessories, paintings and sculptures – are no longer divided into dominant and less important categories, but are presented on an equal footing. All the elements play a lead role, and are in relationship with one another, and therefore with their own image reflected in the mirrors around the rooms. The mirrors in turn expand the space, replicating the lines and colours of the clothes, as well as amplifying the lighting, which enhances the shapes of the items on display.

The clothes and works of art are not presented in strict chronological order, and allow for an interpretation that highlight formal similarities in their cultural context. A link between signs and decorations was sought between the items of clothing and the paintings and sculptures exhibited in the various sections. On this same occasion, the new clothing and textiles from the vast collection of the Museum of Fashion and Costume will also be presented to the press in the new wing adjacent to the first archive room.