On Tuesday 14 December 2021, the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art opens the exhibition “Poetics of simplicity. Fashion and Design according to Monica Bolzoni” dedicated to Monica Bolzoni and her historic brand and performance venue Bianca e Blu to recount her 30 years of experience as a designer, with the intention of conceptually exploring the process that has animated her articulate creative experience.
Poetics of simplicity
The poetics of simplicity is the ingredient that has nourished and animated the work of Monica Bolzoni, a sui generis protagonist in the history of Italian and international fashion, giving life to a personal language achieved by making highly selective choices, consistent with her free and independent personality.
The subject of her research is the archetypes of the feminine, according to a precise study of modular forms to arrive at the development of a canon of contemporary elegance, sophisticated and synthetic that enhances the real body of the woman.
The exhibition
The exhibition, curated by Anna Di Cesare, is part of the National Gallery’s long-standing commitment to enhancing the value of its archives, in line with the cross-cutting interests that characterise its cultural offering.
The acquisition of Monica Bolzoni’s paper fashion archive (sketches, publications, photographs) by an institution such as the National Gallery is an important acknowledgement of the cultural role played by fashion design and an important element in the contemporary debate that has recently begun to question fashion archives, which are increasingly becoming real devices for the archaeology of the present, shared ideal and collective heritages.
The exhibition is organised on two floors, highlighting the most significant dresses in her production (Sherazade, Brigitte, Grace to name but a few), accessories and jewellery. Not forgetting the extensive research into fabrics specially produced on the basis of studies which, alongside original drawings and photographs, some selected from the Bianca e Blu paper archive donated to the Gallery, complete the narrative.
Garments from the permanent collection of the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena will also be on display. There is no shortage of themed projects such as the uniforms, “I like bike”, garments made as ensemble pieces that constitute a complete wardrobe, or in the case of the collection produced for the exhibition Mai dire Mao! Servire il Pop where the uniforms and accessories worn by the performers in the ballet “Il distaccamento femminile rosso” are revisited.
