Fashion as Art

Our Italian professor took us to a jewelry shop this week which was more about art than actual pieces. The artistcreated these for events and each stood out magnificently. For example, one was a beach made out of metals in a ring. The aesthetic brought together in the piece really showed how unique and different it was. We walked through his studio and learned about the molds and how each element goes into creating his masterpieces. This was the first time I had taken public transportation to get around Florence because it is a walking city.

Everything in the city is about 20 minutes away from the prior location by foot and everywhere you need to go is around the Duomo. This shop was further outside of the center and was split into two parts. The front was the store where all of his pieces were displayed. The back was his studio where you could see the work that went into creating everything. The art surrounding the walls was created by a local artist who made abstract pieces representing the cities in Tuscany, like San Gimignano and Siena. My favorite part of this visit was being able to learn about the jewelers collections and see each piece as it was all unique.

In our 20th century fashion class, we visited the Ferragamo museum and walked through the exhibit with moldings of every important famous person’s foot. The clothing was put next toother designers at the times’ pieces and the whole exhibit worked well together to show how trends began. I loved this exhibit because the fashion garments were more about the statement than the actual piece. They came to life in the exhibit and brought together what we learned in class with what we were seeing in person.

Our professor talked about how the exhibits changed every couple of months depending on the season, so when you go there will be something new for you to learn about! Ferragamo created the rainbow shoes, which were designed  for Judy Garland. He also started making shoes when he was very young for his little sisters communions. As he got older, a lot of supplies were being used for the military so he used conventional supplies like candy wrappers and corks to make his shoes.