Fashion Central at MAXXI Gala Event in Rome

ROME — It’s about time that Italy had its own fashion museum.

More than 480 guests attended the yearly fundraising MAXXI Gala and the unveiling of the “Memorabile.Ipermoda” exhibition at the contemporary art museum in Rome on Monday evening, which drew praise for curator Maria Luisa Frisa and the impressive designs on display, but which led many to express their desire to see a permanent fashion museum in the country.

Walking through the halls of the museum, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director of womenswear at Dior, enthused about the exhibition, “because it’s only right to celebrate our history of fashion and textile which is so important and this exhibit shows the creative and also industrial value of fashion.” For this reason, she said she was “entirely in favor of a fashion museum in Italy,” underscoring how major cities in the world, such as Paris and London, already have important fashion museums.

Her Surrealist, embroidered Dior couture gown with metal sequins for spring 2018 is one of the first shown at the entrance of the exhibit. Asked how she felt when she saw it, she said, “I am always surprised when I see my work in museums, as in the Galerie Dior, and it’s always a great honor and pleasure to have participated creatively.”

Entering the exhibition, Marco De Vincenzo, creative director of Etro, whose paisley chiffon and lace dress wrapped in a checkered blanket was on show, said he realized “how much we need a permanent fashion museum. Walking around, I felt its absence. This is beautiful and I’m sorry it’s almost an exceptional event.”

Asked what struck him the most, De Vincenzo said “this is the first time that I go through a physical experience with many of these clothes I thought I knew, so I understood how my awareness is digital, unfortunately.” Pointing to Balenciaga’s velvet turtleneck hoop dress from the spring 2020 ready-to-wear collection, he said, “I had seen it reposted hundreds of times, but never in person. For this reason we need a physical location because you must live fashion.”

“We love to show our pieces on the catwalk, but also in a museum, because it allows for a bigger audience to see fashion that is usually only for a select group of people,” said Viktor Horsting. “And it’s great to be able to see a piece up close and personal, because you can enjoy the craftsmanship, and you can take longer, or the audience can take longer to look at a piece. So we really enjoy that, being part of it, and we’ve shown a lot of our work in exhibitions over the years.”

Asked about the way their own Viktor & Rolf clothes were displayed, Rolf Snoeren said, “Yes, I love the curation of the pieces as well, that it’s not too much. A lot of times, when you go into a museum, it’s overwhelming, but here everything has space, it beautiful, really, really well done.”

Massimo Giorgetti was equally honored that a look from his MSGM fall 2024 collection was exhibited at the museum. “Maria Luisa Frisa has a really exceptional eye. She is extraordinary because she knows how to choose unique and memorable pieces that surprise us and stimulate thought, and at the same time, designs that are simpler and for daily use but that also prompt us to think of their social and cultural value,” Giorgetti said.

“It’s not by chance,” he continued, that Frisa chose the black, unisex wool coat with the red inlaid decoration shaped as the tubular handrails seen in Milan’s M1 subway designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg, stemming from his collaboration with Fondazione Franco Albini, “of which I am very proud.”

Dylan Penn and her partner, Irish artist Robyn Ward, are spending more time in Rome and were also among the guests at the exhibit, staged in collaboration with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, represented by its president Carlo Capasa, accompanied by his wife, actress Stefania Rocca.

“Memorabile.Ipermoda,” running from Thursday to March 23, is sponsored by Fondazione Bulgari, which was represented at the gala by Laura Burdese, deputy chief executive officer of the Rome-based jeweler, and vice president of the foundation. The gala was also supported by brands including Giorgio Armani Group, Tod’s and OTB and was attended by the newly appointed Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli.