Water, Air, Earth, Fire. The four natural elements will be the leitmotif of the exhibition, included in the events scheduled in Rome and Milan on the occasion of the universal exposition from May to October.
The exhibition which will remain open until 1 November 2015 is curated by Stephen Dominella and Giordani Aragno reclamation, will be articulated in the various meanings of fashion, from fabric, to embroidery, to clothing, to accessories, and will have as fil-rouge is food with a "call to nature". . Fashion dresses the body, beautifies it, enhances it and protects it. Food passes through it, nourishes it and penetrates it. Fashion feeds the mind, food feeds the body.
Different areas will be set up inside the museum rooms, containers of projects inspired by the contamination between fashion and nutrition, fashion and eco-sustainability, fashion and energy. Food and the raw materials of nature will represent the fil-rouge of the exhibition which will see the fashion of yesterday, today and tomorrow as protagonists. Clothes, accessories, photographic and video images, video mapping and visual-art will build a contemporary creative path where Made in Italy, high craftsmanship and therefore the tradition of "beautiful and well done" will be an evident expression of how and how much fashion has been able to draw inspiration from nutrition. Furthermore, the exhibition itinerary will be enriched by the photographs of the Korean artist Yeonju Sung, a dreamlike journey that tells through 8 images how food can dialogue with clothes and take on their forms.
On display atbiti-opera but also accessories made with unusual materials, from the shapes and designs resulting from an innovative, original and above all ironic research. Because irony characterizes the creativity of designers when they interpret food. The clothes made by the greatest stylists, from 1950 to today, together with the creations of young emerging designers and young talents will make up the exhibition itinerary with the aim of enhancing its contents and clarifying the inspiration from which the entire concept of the exhibition. Fashion, contaminated by "taste", with its protagonists will trace an unusual and fascinating journey in perfect harmony with the dominant theme of Expo 2015.
If we play the "game" of replacing the word fashion with the word food, we begin to understand how and why these two pillars of Italian creativity and culture inevitably meet continuously and, in particular, strengthen their bond.
Among 160 creations on display, including accessories and clothes, some of which have never been presented before, how not to mention Giorgio Armani who exceptionally joined the initiative. King Giorgio, in his latest Privè collection, is inspired by bamboo, a delicate and robust plant at the same time, increasingly in vogue in eco-sustainable industry, a metaphor for an elegance that elevates fabric and design to poetry. Etro adopts the slogan "We are what we eat” (We are what we eat), thus the wonderful prints of the Maison are colored with pasta and raw shellfish, in graphic compositions created with digital images in which the lunches, very Italian in their representation, are transformed into a kaleidoscope of food.
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, has always amazed us with decorations that recall food, all decidedly ironic and witty, to laugh together with the fashion we wear every day. Gattinoni has dedicated an entire haute couture collection to food, exhibiting the “bread dress” with bustier sculpted with real ears of wheat and jute trousers embroidered with glazed and crystallized biscuits and pretzels. The young designer Tiziano Guardini she chooses real licorice roots to make her eco-sustainable “Natural Couture” dress. Salvatore Ferragamo, a pioneer in the use of poor materials such as cork, raffia and hemp, has chosen to exhibit some of his most famous shoes taken from the precious historical archive of the foundation dedicated to him. Antonio Marras, which has the roots of creativity in its homeland, Sardinia, showcases clothes with embroidery-references to nature. Unmissable Moschino, which has always treated food with irony and as an instrument of social protest. Also on display Ken scott the gardener of fashion, the one who among the first chose to praise the food through the lively prints of her clothes: asparagus, peas, artichokes, apples, become a "wonderful vegetable garden" to wear. And among others at Trajan's Markets, also staged the "florilegio" of Laura Biagiotti through clothes that mention a “fabric nature”.
"I have often wondered in recent years about the paroxysm that is focusing our attention - declares the editor Stephen Dominella On the one hand, hedonism, body care, being slim and fit at any cost, on the other the media and advertising "tam tam" about food, taste and gluttony in general which gives rise to food anxiety . And the fashion? It collects and absorbs all these solicitations and interprets them with ironic creativity. Forever. It was in this “Dolce Vita” atmosphere of food that I developed the idea of an exhibition that combined fashion and food. To smile at this "strange couple", but also to deepen and raise awareness of the thousand nuances associated with it, not least the respect for nature and the environment."
"The elegance of food. Tales about food and fashion”, promoted by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Rome - Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, by the Lazio Region, by Unindustria - Union of Industrialists and Businesses of Rome, Frosinone, Latina, Rieti Viterbo, with the Patronage of the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities and Tourism and EXPO Milano 2015 and with the organization of Zètema Progetto Cultura, will be hosted from Tuesday 19 May to Sunday 1 November at the Trajan's Markets – Museo dei Fori Imperiali, an archaeological site of rare beauty, prestigious for its history and architectural elegance, chosen to tell the contamination between the cultures of fashion and nutrition, two aspects of the national heritage among the most appreciated and known in the world.
