Queer Places:
4 Rue Cambon, 75001 Paris, France
Via Gregoriana, 56, 00187 Roma RM
Villa Bardini, Costa S. Giorgio, 2-4, 50125 Firenze FI
Roberto Capucci (born Rome, December 2, 1930) is an Italian fashion designer. «Roberto Capucci can be considered the God of Fashion not only by insiders, but also by young people, by everyone. Because he made it, he started the history of fashion»
(Anna Fendi)
Roberto Capucci was born in Rome on December 2, 1930. He attended the Art School and the Academy of Fine Arts [1] where he studied with the masters Mazzacurati, Avenali and de Libero. In 1950 he opened his first atelier in via Sistina [1] and in 1951 he presented his creations for the first time at the residence of the Marquis Giovanni Battista Giorgini in Florence, entrepreneur and inventor of Italian fashion. In 1952, together with other stylists such as Vincenzo Ferdinandi, the Sartoria Antonelli, the Carosa atelier, Giovannelli-Sciarra, Polinober, Germana Marucelli, the Sartoria Vanna, Jole Veneziani and sixteen sportswear companies and boutiques, he took part in the first historic fashion show at the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence. A very young Oriana Fallaci, sent by the weekly Epoca, tells the story and dedicates an article full of enthusiasm to him in the weekly 'Epoca' where he describes him as "small and slender like a jockey" [2] [3]. At just 26 he was an Italian fashion designer, particularly appreciated by Christian Dior, who publicly defined him in an interview with Vogue as «the best creator of Italian fashion» [1], for the absolute originality of his creations. In 1958 he created the Box Line, an authentic revolution from a technical and stylistic point of view. For this innovative proposal, on 17 September 1958 in Boston he received the Fashion Oscar - Filene's Young Talent Design Award - as the best fashion creator together with Pierre Cardin and James Galanos. In 1961 he was enthusiastically received by the French critics for the Parisian fashion shows in the calendar of the Chambre Syndacale de la Mode which led him to open his own atelier in 1962 at no. 4 of Rue Cambon in Paris, receiving positive reviews from the press and the honor of being the first Italian artist to be asked to "sign" a product. 1968 sees his definitive return to Italy, to Rome, to the atelier in via Gregoriana, where he presents his collections in the fashion calendar organized by the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and, in the same year, he designs the costumes for Silvana Mangano and Terence Stamp for the film Teorema by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
In July 1970 he presented his work for the first time in a museum, in Rome in the nymphaeum of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, with a collection that revolutionized the tradition of fashion shows, with models wearing low-heeled boots, without make-up and with natural hair. The great experimentation of the Maestro began in these years, with the inclusion in the collections of rigid and structural decorative elements, rich and poor materials, precious fabrics, stones and straw. In 1980 Capucci resigned from the National Chamber of Italian Fashion and decided to present his collections as personal artists, creating them without following deadlines or calendars. In 1986 the Arena di Verona called him to design the costumes for the 'priestesses' of Norma, in homage to Callas. His exhibition season began in 1990 with the exhibition Roberto Capucci l'Arte nella Moda - Volume, Colore e Metodo in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and was received with great praise both by critics and by the public in the most important museums in the world, including the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), the Nordiska Museet (Stockholm), the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), the Philadelphia Museum of Art , the Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin). In 1995 he was invited to present his creations at the International Exhibition of Visual Arts at the Venice Biennale, in the Centenary edition of the Biennale (1895-1995). For the occasion, he presents 12 'Architectures in Fabric' inspired by semi-precious stones and made especially for this occasion. In 1996 Enel produced a gigantic exhibition of all his works at the Palazzo Farnese in Parma with the title In defense of beauty. In 2005 , with the Civita Association, he created the Roberto Capucci Foundation with the aim of preserving his archive which consists of 439 historical dresses, 500 signed illustrations, 22,000 original drawings, a complete press review and a vast photo and media library. In 2007 the Museum of the Roberto Capucci Foundation opened in the Villa Bardini in Florence, within which exhibitions and intense educational activities are organised. In April 2012 , in collaboration with the Moda e Modi Association of Milan, the “Roberto Capucci Competition for young designers was launched. In addition to the clothes, the homage of the young designers concerns objects and furnishings. It ends in April 2013 with the awarding of the 3 winners at Palazzo Reale in Milan and with the exhibition/event at Palazzo Morando. Taking inspiration from eight sculptural dresses by one of the masters of Italian fashion, and in particular from his well-known sartorial techniques of pleats and the architectural lines of his creations, freelance designers and students of fashion schools between the ages of 18 and 35, are have been invited with this announcement to propose their ideas, thus bringing together in a single project talents from different branches of Italian and international creativity: from design objects to fashion accessories, from jewels to sculpture-dresses in unconventional materials (such as paper, plastic and similar) and fabric patterns, the competition saw more than 600 entries, in addition to Italy, from the USA, South America, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe [4] .
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