Professor Chiara Faggella, who teaches Italian Fashion and Food Stories and the design course Bellissima! Unraveling the Threads of Italian Fashion has published a book on Italian fashion history.
As Faggella explains:
Becoming couture is the first book to examine the history of the Italian fashion industry during the global transition brought about by the Second World War. It draws on a wide range of primary sources, some of them newly unearthed, to demonstrate that the Italian fashion industry in the Republican era continued to rely on business practices and professionals established during Fascism. Analyzing changes in promotional discourses and press coverage, the book traces the shift that occurred when manufacturers were encouraged to expand their exports of accessories to include sportswear, knitwear, and moda boutique. This ultimately led to the legitimization of Italian dressmaking as creatively independent of French influences and therefore worthy of the label ‘couture’.