Emilio Federico Schuberth: Intermediality Practices between Fashion, Cinema and Television

Abstract

The essay investigates Emilio Federico Schuberth’s work and his relationship with cinema and television. As one of the most important fashion designers of the Made in Italy, protagonist of Roman social life and costume chronicles, Schuberth has been the first to draw the attention of the press and public opinion to the fashion designer, a new protagonist of show business, cinema and culture. During the 1950s Schuberth built a system of “integrated promotion” between fashion, film, press and television: he created his own personal style, he dressed the most famous Italian and international actresses, he opened his atelier to the cinema industry, he played himself in films and participated in television programs. Schuberth understood the communicative importance of the media system and implemented a communication strategy based on intermediality. The essay describes the methodology of the research, the type of archival sources considered and the use of an interdisciplinary approach, which allowed for a greater understanding of one of the most interesting and least studied figures in Italian high fashion.