A magnificent drawing by Walter Albini
“Isa” by Beatrice Brandini
On Prato, at the Textile Museum, there is a beautiful exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest stylists of all time, Walter Albini. The talent, the stylist.
Drawings and creations by Walter Albini
The exhibition, curated by Daniela Degl’Innocenti and Enrica Morini, through more than 400 objects, recounts twenty years of production by the absolute pioneer of Made in Italy, father of ready-to-wear and the total look.
Drawing by Walter Albini
Drawings and creations by Walter Albini
I had already dedicated a post to this extraordinary talent (https://www.beatricebrandini.it/walter-albini-inexhaustible-creativity/?lang=en) one of my very first ones way back in July 2013, since when I was studying fashion I had discovered him on the pages of Vanity, a memorable magazine written by Anna Piaggi and her clothes and drawings were a shock for me. He was a creative person who fed on art, on cultured suggestions, very different from each other, and at the time, we are talking about the seventies and eighties, he was not so obvious. I liked his elegance and class, his absolutely modern vision of the figure of the stylist, that was his name then, but in Albini’s case he was already a creative director.
Creations and drawings by Walter Albini
Sketches by Walter Albini
For the first time the exhibition combines graphic materials, sketches, drawings, sketches, photographs, many clothes and accessories, but also fabrics that are often unpublished and never exhibited, allowing us to reconstruct and retrace Albini’s entire creative history.
The starting point for the realization of this very ambitious and important project was the Walter Albini Collection of the Textile Museum, purchased thanks to a large donation from Paolo Rinaldi, Albini’s collaborator, a true heritage, including over 1.700 objects.
Two creations by Walter Albini
Two creations by Walter Albini
Fundamental, in addition to the generous offer of private lenders (A.N.G.E.L.O. Archive, Carla Sozzani Collection, Massimo Cantini Parrini Collection, Enrico Quinto and Paolo Tinarelli Collection…), is the collaboration with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana historical archive preserved at the Bocconi University of Milan.
A drawing by Walter Albini
A drawing by Walter Albini
Walter Albini. The talent, the designer is divided into three sections. The first is the one that goes from 1959 to 1972, and concerns the theme of school education and his first experiences as an illustrator. The second section presents garments, graphic materials, jewellery and accessories from a new professional chapter for Albini, when the designer was already established and recognized. The last section recounts the different periods in which Albini returns to collaborate with brands and producers, giving shape to a new design logic. The first men’s collections and collaborations as a theater costume designer also date from these years.
Some sketches and a creation by Walter Albini
Albini broke every rule, his fashion shows were in art galleries or restaurants; the costumes he made for Luca Ronconi’s shows, another genius and another “not easy” character; he designs the invitations for his fashion shows himself; he is the first stylist to mention producers in advertisements, what would be called groupage; the soundtracks of his fashion shows are themed, and always personally chosen; the citations in the collections are clear, often “historical”, but absolutely modern; he is the first, at least in Italy, to mix art-fashion-theatre.
Drawing by Walter Albini
Drawings and creations by Walter Albini
When I published the post in July 2013, many people wrote to me asking who he was. Even in my book “Icon Vintage Dress” I dedicated a page to him, one of the greatest. But if you go and look for news about him you won’t find much, something has changed after the Made in Italy fiction in which his figure also appeared. But always far too little. I hope that this exhibition gives him back what he deserves, Walter Albini was a cultured and refined creative, a great artist. Walter went fast, he was ahead of everything; the world of fashion, the creatives, should praise him because he opened the doors to many mechanisms that still move the textile sector today. Unfortunately, his life took him away too soon, depriving us of his undeniable talent and depriving himself of living a future as a protagonist.
The facade of the Textile Museum with the poster of the Albini exhibition
The exhibition (from 23 March to 22 September 2024) expands over an area of 1.000 square meters, it is unmissable, a tribute to an absolute genius of fashion.
Good life to everyone!
Beatrice