Teresa Allegri, legendary costume tailor for Fellini and Visconti, dies at 90

Teresa Allegri, co-founder of the historic Roman atelier Annamode and one of Italy's most revered costume tailors for cinema and theater, has died. Together with her sister Anna, she built a workshop that dressed films by Federico Fellini (Toby Dammit in Tre passi nel delirio) and Luchino Visconti (Le notti bianche), collaborating with Oscar-winning costume designers Piero Tosi and Gabriella Pescucci. Allegri's career began after a dispute with her sister, when she declared she would make costumes for War and Peace, leaving high fashion to Anna. Annamode became a creative factory where plastic capes and raffia dresses were first sewn for Fellini's surreal fashion show. The atelier also produced costumes for Sandy Powell's Cinderella, earning an Oscar nomination. Today, the Fondazione Annamode, led by nephew Simone Bessi, Marina Ridolfi, and Fausto Pallottini, preserves the archive with advanced digitization. Silvia Venturini Fendi, president of Altaroma, mourned the loss, stressing that Annamode's story is a synthesis of fashion, costume, family, high craftsmanship, and Rome, and that without proper promotion such places risk disappearing.