AltaRoma 2017: Two Exhibitions Explore Italian Fashion Heritage and Vanitas

AltaRoma 2017, the four-day Roman fashion event held from July 6 to 9 at the Guido Reni District, featured two notable exhibitions: 'Drops of Italian Glamour' and 'Vanitas – L’Abito tra sacro e profano'. 'Drops of Italian Glamour' presented around forty day and evening dresses by Italian couturiers and designers, selected from the Quinto Tinarelli archive—one of Europe's largest, with over six thousand models previously shown in Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The minimalist installation suspended garments over linear water basins, tracing Italian style from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, featuring labels such as Valentino, Capucci, Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and Fendi. Many pieces were worn by icons like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Kate Moss. 'Vanitas' juxtaposed sacred and profane, inspired by Fellini's 'Roma' and Tornatore's 'La Migliore Offerta'. It recreated two 19th-century-style galleries with paintings from the Nobile Mino collection, one ecclesiastical with popes and saints, the other aristocratic with a bust of Cavour. Mannequins wore high-fashion religious-inspired garments by Dolce & Gabbana (1997-99), Krizia (1991-92), Ognibene Zendam (1988), and the famous 'Papessa' dress by Gattinoni Couture (1996). The installation, with incense scent and soundtrack by Flavia Lazzarini, explored portraiture as a means to capture identity and vanity, urging a conscious look toward the future.