Gucci, Valentino, Versace, and Balenciaga Are Among Fashion Brands On View in Rome Exhibition

“What has fashion become today?”

That is one of the key questions fashion theorist, professor and curator Maria Luisa Frisa asked herself when planning the “Memorabile.Ipermoda” exhibition at the MAXXI Museum here.

“These are challenging times and the exhibition generates questions and issues that have never been resolved,” Frisa said during an exclusive walk-through on Monday, ahead of a gala event the same evening to unveil the showcase’s lineup of designer looks, accessories, books and catalogues. “Fashion has been through incredible transformations, with large groups bringing finance to the fore in a game of one-upmanship where the clothes are important but are the final step, while in the past the clothes were at the center of fashion.”

Frisa contended that fashion brands incorporate “more and more so many different elements, including cultural assets to express themselves and their values in many different ways to secure increasingly bigger relevance and a wider audience.”

Frisa said the name of the exhibition, staged in collaboration with Camera Nazionale della Moda and sponsored by Fondazione Bulgari, includes the concept of memory, hence heritage and the archives that are always key to fashion designers, but also the idea of memorable. So the looks selected “leave a dazzling impression, and have been photographed again and again.” 

This also led to a discussion about the concept of image, “now that everything is Instagrammable, and this has also changed the way we shoot photos and campaigns, with [handheld] devices in mind.” These photos “have to circulate,” which has sparked brands to stage “shows in exotic locations to stand out and be remembered.”

There is no doubt the first looks displayed in the Galleria 5 in the museum of the 21st-century arts, a striking building designed by Zaha Hadid, are unforgettable and inspiring. These include Francesco Risso’s dress with a collage of floral prints for Marni’s spring 2024 collection and worn by “White Lotus” actress Simona Tabasco at the Emmys last year, to Demna’s Balenciaga silk jacquard trompe-l’oeil dress from the fall 2021-22 haute couture collection and Miu Miu’s wool sweater worn over slips embroidered with gilt elements from the fall 2023 collection.

Among others, on the same platform stands a silk georgette dress by Alessandro Michele for Valentino; a trompe-l’oeil dress by Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior; an Armani Privé python skin jacket trimmed with crystals and metallized velvet worn over polka-dot tulle pants, and Jonathan Anderson’s fiberglass flower and full skirt for Loewe.

“I like to think of fashion as a sarabande, the mixture of looks on the streets are not planned, are they? You just see people wearing what they want to wear, and so are these combinations,” Frisa said.

The installation is a project of Supervoid’s and Frisa said, smiling, that she likes to partner with architects “that have never worked with fashion. I like the external eye, for unexpected solutions.”

Under the museum’s slightly sloping ceilings and by the curved walls, the clothes stand out on sets with floors and walls that have a liquid and shiny aspect, reminiscent of latex, said Frisa, in a “makeup color palette,” from bronze to pink. “I wanted to make a reference to one of the obsessions of today, makeup,” she said.

“I am very much interested in today, in contemporary fashion in a conceptual way, exploring the performative relationship between body and the clothes,” she continued.

Frisa was proud to finally be able to display clothes that have never been exhibited in Italy, including, for example, Virgil Abloh’s Paris and New York skyline puffers for Louis Vuitton.

She also included menswear designs, such as Craig Green’s spring 2018 wooden frame with jersey drape, vest and denim trousers, or Rick Owens’ cotton twill jumpsuit and puffer jacket with jersey drapery from the fall 2017 collection.

She added the hacking experiments, such as the Versace creative swap called Fendace and Gucci and Balenciaga’s tie-up; the artistic collaborations such as Raf Simons with Sterling Ruby for Dior, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s intarsia gown in collaboration with Alessandro Teoldi for Valentino couture and Bulgari’s large bronze and brass turtle with gems designed with Francesco Vezzoli; Iris Van Herpen’s futuristic, otherworldly dresses, and the work of young designers, including Marco Rambaldi’s delicately crocheted dress.  Another memorable gown is Viktor and Rolf’s couture rotated tulle dress.

Accessories range from JW Anderson’s bird clutch and Bottega Veneta’s stunning leather intrecciato bag that looks like a ceramic vase, to Pharrell Williams’ pixelated camo trunk for Louis Vuitton, and Ferragamo’s gold sandals, and Jacquemus’ miniscule bag.

“An exhibition is always a curatorial choice, always incomplete,” said Frisa, asked about the difficulty of selecting the looks.  

“The narration in fashion is key, and in such a prestigious location with such brands we think the quality of this exhibition is very high,” said Carlo Capasa, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion, praising Frisa’s experience and skills. “This is all very contemporary, with an eye on the future, so the MAXXI is fitting. Fashion creates dreams, it does not only respond to needs, it must be creative and convey emotions, as these designs do.”

Capasa said the exhibit “photographs a vivacious system that blends heritage and innovation. The many shapes of creativity are the pulsating heart of fashion, underscoring the fundamental contribution of Italian fashion to the system thanks to the brands, the creative directors, the entrepreneurs and the skilled artisans of Made in Italy.”

Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive officer of Bulgari, said that “memorable is what is created to generate timeless beauty that goes beyond being simply remembered.”

“We believe that fashion, like jewelry, is an art, and that fashion is glorified by jewelry, like jewelry is the master accessory for fashion,” said Babin, touting the quality of the designers participating in the exhibition, “such an incredibly rich and diverse set of great names in fashion.”

Fashion sets the trends, he continued, “whereas jewelry integrates those trends to constantly enrich their art. We have more continuity, and this is our timelessness,” he said, mentioning the Diva Serpenti bracelets on display.

“But on the other hand we can’t ignore that the world is evolving. We can’t ignore our clients, and therefore we always have to think about the styling of the client. We are not a fashion brand, but obviously we are very often endorsed and worn by people buying a couture [dress] and buying fashion. And therefore we draw from fashion some elements [that] allow us to evolve our icons without however compromising the DNA of these icons. So our game is very challenging because we have to stay in tune with the times, without falling into the permanent, ongoing change of fashion trends.”

The Rome-based jeweler has been supporting and promoting young artists with the museum since 2018  and launched many new talents on the international scene as part of the MAXXI Bulgari Prize.

“Memorabile.Ipermoda” will run from Wednesday until March 23.