The Fashion Businessusing toning silk thread, cream sequins and amber glass. The front has a
false-wrap which suggests it was meant to swing open as the wearer walked,
perhaps offering a glimpse of the lower leg. It was worn by Naz Mardikian,
an Armenian emigré who was involved with the Italian resistance during the
War, and was very keen to help resurrect the Italian industry after the War.
Mrs Mardikian was given a ball gown every year by Ferrario in recognition
of her efforts. She received this particular example for the 1949 opening of
the San Francisco opera, a major social and sartorial event in the San
Francisco calendar.
Another significant extant example of evening wear was designed by
Galitzine in approximately 1962 (and is particularly interesting because two
variations of this outfit are held in museum collections, one in the Pitti Palace
and one at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London). The first is a suit
comprising a short, sleeveless, waisted cocktail dress with a matching jacket.^22
The second variation is a three-piece and includes the same jacket, but
matched with both green “capri pant” trousers, and a maxi wrap-around
overskirt.^23 It shows an aptitude for combining elegance with practicality;
trousers were rarely seen in French couture collections until the later 1960s.
The fabric is very striking, an exotically coloured and patterned satin, with
stylized flowers, leaves and butterflies, which incorporates both pastels and
brights. The jacket is very heavily beaded in accordance with the fabric pattern
and is lined with fine green crepe de chine. There is great attention to detail;
even the internal poppers are covered with different colour crepe to match
the fabric pattern beneath. These are important examples of Italian use of
colour, fabric, surface decoration, and the simple lines which were beginning
to distance Italian fashion from French. This reading is substantiated by the
contemporary press. In Women’s Wear Daily, for example, in 1952, it was
noted that ‘richly embroidered evening gowns... and fabrics play a big role
in fashion interest in these showings’.^24
An interesting example of a further important facet of Italian couture
eveningwear was published on the cover of American magazine Life in
January 1955.^25 The feature, entitled ‘Gina Lollobrigida: a Star’s Wardrobe’,
- Pitti Palace, Florence, number TA 3898/9. Label reads ‘Irene Galitzine Roma’.
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London, number T220-74 and T220A. Label reads ‘Irene
Galitzine Roma’.
24.Women’s Wear Daily, 18.1.52, p. 3. - Gina Lollobrigida: a Star’s Wardrobe’,Life, 10.1.5, p. 38. After the Second World War
a significant proportion of Hollywood films were made in Italy, especially in and around
Rome, as Hollywood faced declining audiences and sought to cut costs. American stars poured
in, and together with the new Italian Hollywood stars, offered an important and particular
market for Italian couture, both for their film and private wardrobes.