The Fashion Issue
Abstract
Here begins the third cycle of ARCHIVIO: four thematic issues, each edited by a Guest Editor specialized in the field in order to have an expert eye to open the doors of the archives and show you where to look in these vast worlds.
The first, ARCHIVIO N°9, is dedicated to Fashion, with Stefano Tonchi—curator and journalist in the field of fashion—as Guest Editor-in-Chief, joined by Marco Pecorari—Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Program Director of the MA in Fashion Studies at Parsons Paris. Editorial direction is by Daniela Hamaui, while the art direction is by Alessandro Gori. For our cover, we asked artist Francesco Vezzoli to create a portfolio that would put fashion archives in conversation with Pop Culture.
ARCHIVIO N°9, offers a mapping of the fashion archives international landscape at this moment in time and an overview of the many typologies and studies happening in the world we live in, divided in three sections: ‘Public & Institutional’, ‘Brands & Strategies’, ‘Private & Personal’. It also includes a special poster: an (in)complete mapping of the countless fashion archives in Italy. A research by Promemoria, ARCHIVIO’s publisher, visually processed by Accurat. The result is a map that is also a small work of art.
Stefano Tonchi,“Fashion archives are always changing, creating new narratives and relationships, always moving. They are living archives.”
Guest Editor-in-Chief
Glimpse of the Month
The Museum at FIT was founded in 1969 by the Fashion Institute of Technology. The college’s intention was to provide students and Seventh Avenue designers with access to inspirational examples of dress and fashion. Robert Riley was the founding director of what was then known as The Design Laboratory. He quickly began to build the collection with loans from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, as well as donations from individuals. Even before a building was erected with gallery space for exhibitions, Riley organized live fashion shows, such as Adrian Retrospective (1971), featuring Hollywood costumes donated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. One of Riley’s most important exhibitions was Paul Poiret, King of Fashion (1976), which featured a set design evoking Poiret’s famous 1002nd Night Ball, which fashion photographer Bill Cunningham described as “a revolution in the soaring heights of display wizardry.”
By Valerie Steele
