A Short Review: Galleria del Costumes di Palazzo Pitti

What an amazing morning. Move over V&A, today I visited the Costume Gallery at the Pitti Palace, and it is my new favorite costume collection. The Palazzo Pitti was the home of Cosimo I de'Medici and his wife Eleonora di Toledo. Today it is home to a number of museum collections (and the extensive Boboli Gardens) including the Costume Gallery.

What I love about looking at historical garments is that they are like art. Like sculpture. Meant to be seen and studied up close. I could see the prick stitches on this 18th century jacket, the real sheen on that Fortuny dress.

The gallery has a rotating collection, and this exhibition was called: Fashion, A World of Similarities and Differences. While the V&A has a grand collection of costume history and important designer names (from Worth to McQueen), it only goes through fashion history sequentially. The collection here in Florence takes a different approach, showcasing similar silhouettes in exhibition rooms. There is a room dedicated to the empire look, to the 3 piece suit, to the drop waist--all throughout fashion history. A gown from the 1970s will sit next to a gown from the 20s and you can see just how we borrow and change throughout history.

Also...there is a room full of sparkly dresses. I'm just saying...

(note: this pictures come from the book i purchased, as pictures were not allowed inside)

However, probably the most significant part of the collection is the actual clothing that Cosimo I de'Medici, Eleonora di Toledo, and their son Don Garzia were buried in. Remarkably, their bodies were exhumed a number of times over the centuries, and the remains of their garments were removed in 1947 for in depth research. Yes, it gives amazing insight into what the Medici court wore in the 16th Century, and I am incredibly fortunate to have seen it.

The pieces are laid out like flat patterns, as they are too delicate to reassemble. It took decades of research to put the exhibit together, and is quite a feat. I learned and absorbed so much there. From the types of silk satins used for Eleonora throughout her life, to the way she was haphazardly dressed for burial (the sides of her bodice laced up wrong and one stocking inside out) for fear of catching her illness.

At first, walking through the gallery I was filled with excitement as the nerdy fashion historian in me took over. However, the more I read, the more I stared at the clothes in the dimly lit room, the more melancholy I became. the place became heavy. These weren't just pieces of clothing on display, as in the other rooms. There was a face to put to them. A history.

 And it wasn't like seeing a mummified body in an Egyptian sarcophagus or a stone tomb in a chapel. These things almost dehumanize the person in their display. They become pieces of science, or history. But to look at a person's real clothes? Clothes they were buried in for hundreds of years? Story and garment combined, these historical figures become frail. Human. Relateable.

Isn't if funny how a garment has the ability to produce this feeling more than a tomb? At least, that was how I felt.

The excursion did not end on a heavy note. The exictement of the collection, and the beauty of the grounds and gardens, could not be marred. It also helped that we stopped at Mama's Bakery on the way home. American coffee, bagels, and cupcakes--yum! Also, there was a Giant's pennant behind the counter and American Vogue on the table. Woo!