Marchesa Luisa Casati by Man Ray (1922) Marchesa Luisa Casati was an eccentric patroness of the arts and socialite, born into an aristocratic Italian family in 1881. As a teenager, she inherited an immense fortune that she later used to fund her transformation into a living work of art. In her ruined Venetian palace (the ... Read more
Emilio Pucci dress, 1968 Back in March I visited the Diana Vreeland After Diana Vreeland exhibition at Museo Fortuny in Venice, Italy. It was the day after the opening that was accompanied by an international symposium on Diana Vreeland, bringing to Venice notable scholars, curators and other fashion people I felt I should have recognized ... Read more
Last weekend I took a quick trip to Venice with my family to see the Elegance in Exile: Between fashion and costume, the time of Sergei Diaghilev (L'eleganza in esilio. Tra moda e costume, il tempo di Diaghilev) exhibition at Palazzo Mocenigo. The exhibition portrays the influence of Russian émigrés on fashion, displaying costumes of ... Read more
Male students protest against longer hemlines at Michigan State University, circa 1947. When a friend of mine posted this photo on my Facebook wall some time ago, I immediately thought this was one of the most interesting moments in fashion history I've heard of. 1947 was the year Christian Dior introduced the "New Look" in ... Read more
Le Journal des Dames et des Modes was a fashion periodical published in Paris in 1912-1914. Containing columns, poetic texts, illustrations and fashion reports, it was a reflection of the refined and optimistic Parisian society before the First World War. I am in love with the Journal's vibrant illustrations, some of which have luckily been ... Read more