G.B. Giorgini: Fashion, Florence and Diplomacy, 1950-55

Sonnet Stanfill

doi:10.6092/issn.2611-0563/13580

Authors

Sonnet Stanfill Victoria and Albert Museum

She is Senior Curator of Fashion in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Her research focuses on 20^th and 21st-century fashion production and consumption and her exhibitions include Ossie Clark (2003), New York Fashion Now (2007) and co-curation of Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 (2012), with accompanying publications. She curated the major exhibition, The Glamour of Italian Fashion (2014) which then toured to four venues in North America from 2015-17. She served as the 2019 Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Trust V&A Visiting Scholar at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/13580

Keywords:

Anti-Communism, Clothing, Diplomacy, Fashion, Florence

Abstract

Three key factors contributed Florence’s mid-century reign as Italy’s premier fashion city. Chief among them was the active championing of Florence by fashion impresario, Giovanni Battista Giorgini (1898–1971) whose bi-annual fashion shows associated Florence with high style and confirmed Italy’s reputation as a source for modish, high-quality clothing. Also crucial was the United States Government’s support of the Italian fashion industry; in diplomatic circles, encouraging a flourishing fashion sector was part of an American political strategy to deter communism in Italy. Members of the United States Foreign Service advocated on behalf of the Florence fashion events as part of a wider effort to reestablish Italy as an American economic and political ally. A third factor was the seductive beauty and historic charm of Florence, which Giorgini used strategically to entice guests to his shows and further his aims. These three elements combined to make Florence Italy’s one-time fashion capital, from Giorgini’s first show in 1951 until Milan took center stage in the 1970s.

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G.B. Giorgini: Fashion, Florence and Diplomacy, 1950-55

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