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Eighties’ fashion is back in style Excess
[Maddalena Delli]
Twice a year - in late January and in late June - the streets of the city center in Florence become suddenly swarming with lots of gorgeous and obviously fashion-conscious people. Don't be caught unawares, there's a solid reason behind this. It's because of the Pitti fashion shows going on at the Fortezza da Basso: Pitti Uomo for menswear, Pitti Bimbo for children's fashion, Pitti Casa for home furnishings and household linen and Pitti Filati for the latest trends in the field of yarn for knitwear and textiles.The Pitti events themselves bear little interest to the general public because access to the fair quarters is strictly reserved for insiders of the trade - exhibitors, buyers, photographers, journalists - but apart from a number of very exclusive parties (don't miss them if you're lucky enough to obtain an invitation!) the many side-events are open to everyone and provide interesting opportunities which are unmissable for fashion design students, and at least fascinating for anyone else.
This year's major Pitti event is an exhibition held in the beautiful setting of the former Leopolda railway station by Porta al Prato (near the Cascine Park, within walking distance of the center). A varied team of experts has produced an astonishing retrospective exhibition on the mainstream and underground fashion of the Eighties. Even those unacquainted with the subject won't take long to understand why the event has been called Excess: leggings and punk bracelets for street wear, false eyelashes, exaggerated make-up, gigantic shoulders and gold on the catwalks, the Eighties were excessive by definition.
They were also a significant period of complex political and cultural transformation. Creativity and novelty were the key words in a social celebration of the ego.
Fashion was no longer a combination of clothes and accessories, but the mirror of a rapidly and continuously changing society. From the fashion shows to the magazines, from music videos to art galleries, the energy released by the punk movement poured in an uninterrupted flow of images. It just takes looking back with today’s curiosity to see how current the Eighties are, or at least how they are becoming next year’s vintage.
Both the Pitti exhibition and its intriguing catalogue are already hailed as landmarks in the critical understanding and aesthetic appreciation of a recent decade that is significantly already a cult and unstoppably back in style. Jennifer Lopez as Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, Fisherspooner as the Yellow in the disco music ratings, Morgan from Bluvertigo as Adam Ant, Hard Rock and Hell’s Angels’ t-shirts, Boy George in a Broadway musical about the life of Leigh Bowery, Amanda Lear in a TV show that becomes a cult event. Britney Spears as Madonna or Madonna as Britney Spears? There are clear signs that there is more to come: evocations of that controversial decade are everywhere.
Excess. Fashion and the underground in the Eighties
Stazione Leopolda,(Viale Rosselli)
From January 8th to February 8th
Opening hours 11am to 6pm.
Closed Mondays
For info call 055.3693407 or check www.pittimmagine.com
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http://www.pittimmagine.com