Fashion week

From Imperial Rome to La Dolce Vita through the pomp of the Renaissance era. 
The garmemt as an eblem, a social convention and a lifestyle.

Tribute to Walter Albini, Men’s High Fashion at the Andersen Museum

Dominella, scheduled calendar events: the rebirth of historic brand labels and social projects

On January 26, Rome will play host to Men’s High Fashion with a preview event that will mark the inauguration of the Roman fashion shows. For the first time ever, the Andersen Musuem will open its room to an exhibition of garments set against an innovative backdrop. A highly evocative location housing statuesque works, often measuring as much as five metres in height, a tribute to men, to their athleticism and to their physical prowess. In a play of visual aspects and cross-references, the Villino Andersen will host the creations of five masters of style, Barbera, Litrico, Piattelli, Rubinacci and Osvaldo Testa, linked to the tradition of Italian haute couture, with a strong international appeal.
Designers who have dressed  film stars and icons of la Dolce vita, directors, actors, writers, politicians and heads of state or artists of the calibre of Manzù, Visconti, Mastroianni, De Sica, Gassman,  Malaparte, Andreotti, Gorbaciov, Kruscov, King Hussein of Jordan and Umberto di Savoia.

An air of internationalism will thus prevail at the Haute Couture fashion shows without, however, forgetting the inherent nature of the city hosting the event, an emblem of that Roman spirit which, for centuries, has been the very life and soul of its history. A Renaissance banquet will help to revive the pomp of an era associated, in the collective mind, with popes and patrons of the arts. A ‘defilé’ dedicated entirely to food, to the flavours of the past, a true atelier of taste, with dishes reconstructed for the occasion using ancient recipes. Almost in contradiction to those who maintain that fashion implies constraint and the negation of psychic and physical wellbeing. A unique location and one of Rome’s oldest buildings, awash with memories and legends.

The tribute to Walter Albini, the brilliant designer who died in 1983, aged just 42, will be one of the highlights of the event. A  maitre à penser of the total look, a firm believer in the need for luxury pret-à-porter, a new way of experimenting, designing and producing fashion.
Thanks to material from the precious archive owned by Marisa Curti, former partner and friend of Albini, Hadrian’s Temple will host  In/Under the name of Walter Albini, a performance, a mise en scène with a theatrical flavour. “This is not a fashion show –explain the organizers – our aim is to present some thirty garments designed by Albini between 1972 and 1973 in a surreal, highly evocative atmosphere. A particular period, possibly one of crisis for the designer and, in our opinion one that was purer, lighter and more disenchanted”. The garments displayed are based on a Thirties look. In fact,. several of those taken from the archive will be making  their “first ever” appearance.

Ever-true to its social vocation, this edition of Alta Roma will once again focus on solidarity. Per riprendere il filo. Percorso formativo per uscire dal disagio (To pick up the threads. A training course for disadvantaged women.) is the name of the project, developed by Stefano Dominella, President of Alta Roma, targeted at offering vocational training to a group of young women, many of Eastern European origin, victims of segregation and violence, who have lived in Italy for some time and who are hosted by charitable institutions. The laboratory, coordinated by Deanna Ferretti and inaugurated in December 2006 at the Ida Ferri Fashion School, foresees over 700 hours of training and educational activities, targeted at training dressmakers. The first part of the workshop envisages the creation of garments inspired by the Roman tunic, which will be presented at the S/S fashion shows. The second half of the course, coordinated by Anna Fiorelli, will begin in February and  end in July. At the end of the course, students will have a chance to gain work experience at the ateliers of well-known designers and important companies in the sector.
It goes without saying that the Haute Couture fashion shows are, first and foremost, a runway for famous international couturiers, many of whom will be returning to Rome. Among others, the events programme will include a roster of famous designer names such as Marella Ferrera, Fausto Sarli, Giovanni Cavagna,  maison Gattinoni, Lorenzo Riva, Abed Mahfouz, Raffaella Curiel, Camillo Bona, Renato Balestra and Tony Ward together with Gianni Calignano, Susanna Liso, Stertch Couture, Alessandro Consiglio, Patrizia Pieroni, Bianca Maria Gervasio and Michele Miglionico.

An additional highlight of the Rome event will be the presence of Annette Kolling , a designer of German origin who hails from Belgium and winner of the Next –Couture Prize (in the research and experimentation sector)  within the context of Mittelmoda. The theme of her collection is inspired by the painting Man in Black by Gerard Terboch, dating back to 1673. Quirky fabrics and cuts, strong, bright colours and exaggerated lines inspired by Eighteenth century art.
From Russia, Yulia Yanina, a leading designer of a new generation of creators who, for some years have made their mark on the international stage. A designer who appeals, in particular, to the wives of wealthy Moscow industrialists ranging from members of the jet set to royal princesses such as Stephanie of Monte Carlo.

The events programme will also features Metamorfosi,  a display of photographs by the well-known fashion photographer Malena Mazza to be held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.
A surreal survey of the human body with portraits and photographs “sculpted” on floral fabrics. A hymn to life, to its continuous changes and ongoing ebb and flow.  

“Compared to other celebrations of its kind, the Roman event is somewhat atypical – says Stefano Dominella, President of Alta Roma. Together with the discovery of young talents and the presence of famous Haute Couture fashion houses, our philosophy, in Rome, has always been well defined with one of our many goals being linked to the promotion of events and projects having a social content (the “Who is on next? competition, Giovanni Cavagna’s Tricotcouture and the re-evaluation of historic brand labels, such as that of Walter Albini) .The presence of the masters of men’s High Fashion at this edition testifies to a renewed interest in a cultural heritage of superior craftsmanship, that has been handed down from father to son. Leading figures in the men’s universe who will complete the event with creations that are just as stylish as those found in the women’s haute couture collections”