Masters Of Style
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To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification, Peroni are sponsoring Masters Of Fashion, an exhibition of defining advertisements from six of the country's biggest brands—Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, Gucci, Missoni, and Prada—a lot of fashion history and pop-culture heritage is going to be exhibited in one place. Masters of Fashion is curated by Colin McDowell, an ultra-hardworking British fashion journalist who looks a little like Captain Birdseye. He's written over 20 books on design and fashion, including titles such as Fashion Today, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano: Romantic, Realist and Revolutionary, and Ralph Lauren: The Man, The Vision, The Style. He's a pretty big deal. We spoke to him about the exhibition and his thoughts on why the rest of the world thinks the Italians are so styley.
VICE: Hey Colin. So, how did the setting up of the exhibition work?
Colin McDowell: It was conceived as a designer-led event with all the creative decisions, regarding images, to be taken by the designers themselves. The images were supposed to cover their entire working period, which is a hard call in 15 pictures, but they ‘got it’ and did just that.
Cool. Are there noticeable differences in the ways that the brands featured have advertised over the years?
Yes, definitely. Now the product is king, whereas in the past the idea of advertisements was to create the aura of a luxury label for the glamorous life. There may or may not have been a handbag in the shot, but now there absolutely must be a bag, and very prominently featured too.
But each image has a handwritten rationale from the respective designer too, right? Were their commentaries massively different? Or are there similarities in the ways they have all approached advertising?
The rationale and reaction for and to certain images are as different as the images themselves, of course. However, the motive behind all the work shown in the pavilions is common to all—to make people buy into a dream world that is rarely echoed in their actual lives. It is one of the great fantasies of our time that the dream of a Gucci bag, once realized, has made the purchaser a Gucci person. It is much more complex than that - and the designers are aware of that even if the consumer is bedazzled - but what I wanted to show was that the means of doing this is so much more creatively valid than getting somebody to shell out a sackful of money for the right sack. The designer's advertising campaign is more intimate and telling than any editorial page can ever be.
True. So, where do you think this huge stock of Italian talent has come from over the years?
Well, Italy is the most intensely creative country in Europe and the one with the most brio, which unfortunately means that it ends up with someone like Mr Berlusconi every now and again. But remember, this is the country that not only gave us Armani and Prada, but also Michelangelo and Leonardo. It is a country with creative pedigree and it is one that goes back a long way.
Do you think that’s why Italian brands dominate the high fashion market? Because that creative spirit has been such a huge part of their national history?
Italian brands owe their worldwide success to two strands in the Italian cultural mix. They are, firstly, an exceptionally refined approach to quality of manufacture and workmanship, and secondly, the sheer native genius of its designers who, like for example, Dolce & Gabbana and Gianni Versace, recognize what their history and culture are saying and know how to use it to their advantage. No country is creatively stronger and let us not forget that although there are very few French designers showing in Paris, in Milan a foreign designer is an exception to the norm.
How has Italy's history post unification affected their fashion industry?
Clearly you cannot have a unified culture until you have one language, education, and morality. Warring states never have the power, and rarely the funds, to do things on the world scale that fashion needs in order to work today. So, becoming a country is the first step. After that, anything can follow on the back of the intense national pride that grows, whether in football, music, or design.
I see. Although, the oldest of the brands weren't founded until at least 50 years after the unification. What changed during that time that sparked the huge rise of fashion and design?
Well, there was a huge explosion of wealth in the north and in the 50s the south began to catch up and the confidence of the country blossomed.
Obviously you have years of experience and a huge knowledge of world fashion. Would you say that, en masse, Italy has always been, and still is, the leading country when it comes to fashion?
Yes, I would. Because, as I have said, whereas its rivals New York and Paris are polyglot and host fashion designers from all over the world, Italian fashion is just that - Italian fashion. So it has one attitude and speaks with one voice and long may it continue to do so.
JAMIE CLIFTON
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