A century of fashion on display at Palazzo Pitti’s Museum of Costume and Fashion

Nine newly inaugurated rooms at Palazzo Pitti’s Museum of Costume and Fashion trace a century of style, from the exuberant Charleston of the 1920s to the sparkling 1980s of Enrico Coveri. The exhibition showcases 40 iconic garments by designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, and Roberto Capucci — many of them on public view for the first time — displayed in elegant dialogue with masterpieces of 20th-century art by Galileo Chini, Felice Casorati, and Alberto Burri.

Exactly one year after the museum’s complete reopening, the 20th-century collection has been entirely renewed to offer visitors a new “dream chapter” in the history of fashion. The museum, which holds more than 15,000 historical garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present day, plans to rotate its displays annually, bringing to light previously unseen pieces carefully restored for public viewing. The sections dedicated to 18th- and 19th-century fashion and the Medici costumes remain unchanged.

The first of the new rooms, Charleston Fashion: Between Avant-Gardes and Exoticism, sets the tone with Galileo Chini’s stunning Triptych, transforming the space into a Puccini-inspired scene featuring the dress worn by the artist’s wife at the premiere of Turandot at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1926. Other silk gowns decorated with motifs inspired by China, Japan, and India recall how Orientalism intertwined with the emancipation and experimentation of the “flapper” generation.

Two following rooms explore Fashion Between the Wars, spanning Art Déco, Rationalism, and the cinematic glamour of the 1930s. Felice Casorati’s The Stranger converses with creations by Elsa Schiaparelli and Madeleine Vionnet.

The postwar section includes a rare early dress by Yves Saint Laurent — who became creative director of Dior in 1957 at just 21 — and three gowns once owned by Ingrid Bergman, including a Gattinoni.

The journey continues through the 1960s and 1970s, reaching the Space Age Movement, when futuristic lines and minimalist designs reflected the era’s fascination with technology and space exploration, represented by André Courrèges, André Laug, and Pierre Cardin.

A section dedicated to Roberto Capucci celebrates his sculptural approach to couture, while the finale sparkles with the colorful exuberance of Enrico Coveri, whose sequined designs became an emblem of the 1980s.

According to Simone Verde, director of the Uffizi Galleries, the new display “presents fashion as a visual and cultural language in constant dialogue with the arts.” For Vanessa Gavioli, curator of the Museum of Costume and Fashion, the exhibition “tells the story of the 20th century through women’s fashion — from the liberated silhouettes of the 1920s to the luminosity and color of the 1980s”.

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