Costume Gallery at Palazzo Pitti

Today, We went to the Palazzo Pitti Costume Gallery. I was extremely excited to see the Costume Gallery because my mother and aunt had been to the gallery just a few weeks prior and RAVED about it. I thought that it was quite interesting to hear it is the only costume gallery in Italy run by the State.

As we entered the gallery, we walked into a room that juxtaposed past and present fashion.  There was a 15^th century a la Francaise gown positioned next to a modern gown that emphasized a rosette filled skirt.  The colors of the two dresses were quite similar, both a taupe/nude color. The modern dress had a black sleeveless top which continued into a full skirt, similar to the full body of an a la Francaise.

It was interesting to hear professor speak about the importance of the face representation. The face depicted with the a la franciase dress was that of neutral and indistinctive features. This is in comparison to the modern dress, which had distinctive bone structure and eyes.  Even the placement of the dolls hands of the modern dress signified a style quite different from the 15^th century.

As we continued through the gallery rooms, I began to notice that each room had a theme. One room emphasized fringe, another pleats, and layered clothing. In the fringe room, one dress appeared to be a representation of a 1920’s flapper dress, when in fact, it was a dress from the 1960’s. This shows that textile and silhouette elements have carried throughout decades of fashion.

One of my favorite pieces in the entire collection was in the pleated room. This piece looked as though it was some sort of jacket--- a white couture jacket. We learned today the jacket was a representation of oysters, and that the woman wearing this jacket was depicted as a pearl. There is symbolism within this article of clothing. An oyster gives birth to a pearl, and therefore, the woman wearing this garment is similar to an oyster and is considered a precious beauty. I have a hard time comparing clothing to life themes, but this oyster and pearl representation made sense! Every woman wants to be as precious as a pearl found within an oyster—It is for this reason that the jacket represents an expensive, couture piece of clothing.

We have learned TONS about the fashion of Elenora de Toledo. I was so excited to see the original burial gown of Elenora. For our class this semester, I reported on the “cut and construction” article by Janet Arnold. In this article, Janet spoke about the burial garments of Cosimo I, Elenora, and Don Garzia. It was incredible to see the actual burial garments of the royal Medici family in person. The burial garments were mostly destroyed, but what was left was magnificent. The textiles were impeccable and the linings of all the garments were hand-made.  It was interesting to see how conservations researchers depicted what the full garments looked like in the 15^th century. These garments are precious gems and I feel so lucky to have seen the royal Medici family’s burial garments in person!

All I can say is that I had a great afternoon at the Costume Gallery—A great way to end the semester!