New History of "Made in Italy"

Lucia Savi is a curator at the Design Museum, London. In 2021 she curated the V&A exhibition Bags: Inside Out and authored its accompanying publication. Dr Savi has a PhD from Kingston University, UK, on Italian fashion and textiles, and has contributed to fashion and design exhibitions and their catalogues including The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945–2014 (V&A, 2014) and Beyond Bloomsbury: Design of the Omega Workshops 1913-1919 (Courtauld, 2009).

• List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsGlossaryIntroductionLocating Italian FashionMade in ItalyResearching ‘Made in Italy’Primary Research SourcesThe Inside-Out MethodResearch ParametersChapter Structure1. Fibers and the Making of Italian Textiles in the Post-War PeriodIntroductionItaly between Tradition and ModernityBetween Couturiers and ManufacturersFrom Paris to the USA’s influenceThe Fascist Period and the 1930sFibers and PoliticsItalian Fashion’s MaterialityNatural, Artificial and Synthetic FibersSilk, artificial and synthetic fibersSNIA Viscosa and Fibers PromotionThe Legitimization of New Fibers2. The American Export Market and its Influence on Italian designIntroductionTextiles Make Fashion: Italy at Work and Sala BiancaItalian Fashion in Italy at WorkItalian Textiles in Italy at WorkSala BiancaItaly and the USA: Export and Domestic MarketThe Value of Hand Made and Machine Made in Italy and USABoutique Fashion as Proto Italian Ready-to-WearThe Mechanisms of Copies– Italy and the USA between ‘Made in Italy’ and ExportMade in Italy and ExportThe Transatlantic Commerce of Italian Couture: Simonetta Case StudyReady-to-Wear versus CoutureThe Value of Copies3. The 1960s, a Decade of Metamorphosis in Italian FashionIntroductionTreaty of Rome and ExportThe Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) and the Promotion of High FashionNew Ways of Production, with New Products and New Ways of ConsumptionIndustry and Alta ModaBoutique of Ready-to-Wear4. Fashion meets Industry: The Role of Carnettisti in Domestic and International MarketsCarnettisti in ItalyThe Assortitori Tessuti Novità (Sorter of New Textiles)Distribution of Textiles in the 1960sCarnettisti in CNMI: Towards a Codified Role and Crisis5. Milan and the StilistiIntroductionRise of MilanDistretti Industriali (Industrial Districts)The Stilista, the Link between Textile and Fashion ProductionStilista and Industrial ProductionTransition from Carnettista to Stilista6. Designing for Mass-ProductionDesigning FashionLiterature Review for Fashion Working DrawingsFashion Working Drawing DecodedPaper, Type of Drawing and InscriptionsStyle and AestheticsTextilesGianfranco Ferré: a Case StudyConclusionInside Fashion: the Role of Materials and ProductionFibers and materialsInternationalizationIndustrializationBibliographyIndex

In this long-awaited study, [Savi] probes with surgical acuity the connections in economics and fashion history that led to the worldwide spread and ... democratization of Italian fashion ... [exploring] new territory in terms of both method and sources ... with crisp color illustrations, indispensable for the reproduction of fabric patterns and drawings.