{"id":127526,"date":"2025-11-07T21:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/127526\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T21:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:28:10","slug":"cleveland-museum-of-art-exhibition-renaissance-to-runway-delves-into-enduring-italian-fashion-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/127526\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition \u2018Renaissance to Runway\u2019 delves into enduring Italian fashion houses"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The hits just keep coming for the Cleveland Museum of Art<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After a streak of crowd-pleasing exhibitions that have spanned everything from Japanese art and rock photography to high-concept modernism, CMA\u2019s latest show turns the spotlight on Italy\u2019s most enduring export: fashion.<\/p>\n

Opening Sunday, Nov. 9, \u201cRenaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses\u201d<\/a> is the museum\u2019s largest fashion exhibition to date \u2014 and one of its most ambitious cross-disciplinary undertakings ever.<\/p>\n

The show stitches together more than a century of design with centuries of influence, tracing the through line between Italian Renaissance art and modern couture.<\/p>\n

More than 80 unique ensembles and garments and 40 jewelry pieces from icons like Versace, Valentino, Armani, Ferragamo and Gucci are displayed in conversation with the museum\u2019s world-renowned collection of early Italian paintings, sculpture and decorative arts.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a literal and figurative dialogue between brushstroke and hemline, between what hung in Florence\u2019s palaces and what has strutted down Milan\u2019s catwalks \u2014 glamour and glitz, personified.<\/p>\n

Curated by Darnell-Jamal Lisby, CMA\u2019s associate curator of fashion, \u201cRenaissance to Runway\u201d invites visitors to see history reflected in haute couture \u2014 not as an echo, but as an ongoing dialogue.<\/p>\n

\"NicolaEvening Dress and Wings, spring 2024. Nicola Brognano (Italian, b. 1990) for Blumarine (Italy, est. 1977). Viscose, feathers, brass. Courtesy of Blumarine. Photo: Luca Stoppini. \u00a9 LucaStoppiniStudioLuca Stoppini. \u00a9 LucaStoppiniStudio<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about cultural preservation and reinvention,\u201d Lisby said in a statement. \u201cItalian designers have long looked to the past not to replicate it, but to reimagine it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the pairings are breathtaking.<\/p>\n

A burgundy velvet gown by Donatella Versace glimmers with metallic thread and gems, recalling the opulence of 16th-century textile design \u2014 the same kind of luxury immortalized in Renaissance portraiture. <\/p>\n

Alberta Ferretti\u2019s fall 2015 ensemble channels the evolution of lace collars from the partlets and ruffs of the 1500s. <\/p>\n

And Ferragamo\u2019s 2023 \u201cJewel Sandal,\u201d created under Maximilian Davis, riffs on a golden original the designer made for a client in 1956, marrying historical ornamentation with modern ease.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also features pieces by Blumarine\u2019s Nicola Brognano, who looked to angels and sacred art for his feathered \u201cEvening Dress and Wings\u201d and Armani, whose 2018 Priv\u00e9 cape ripples with plumed layers \u2014 a nod to the sprezzatura (effortless grace) of Renaissance style.<\/p>\n

Jewelry houses get their due as well. <\/p>\n

Buccellati\u2019s \u201cViolante Pendant Brooch,\u201d with its intricate geometry and multicolored golds, was inspired by the architecture of Renaissance palaces. <\/p>\n

Bvlgari\u2019s 1984 Medusa necklace ties myth and mastery together, its engraved sardonyx centerpiece invoking both Greek mythology and Caravaggio\u2019s famous depiction of the Gorgon.<\/p>\n

\"RobertoGown, 1989. Roberto Capucci (Italian, b. 1930) for Roberto Capucci (Italy, est. 1950). Silk taffeta. Fondazione Roberto Capucci. Photo courtesy of Fondazione Roberto Capucci. Photo: Claudia PrimangeliClaudia Primangeli<\/p>\n

What makes \u201cRenaissance to Runway\u201d feel so alive is its sense of continuum. The exhibition doesn\u2019t relegate the Renaissance to a gilded past; it threads it directly into our present. <\/p>\n

The fabrics, feathers and flourishes on display feel as relevant to today\u2019s red carpet as they do to the frescoes and canvases that inspired them.<\/p>\n

And because this is Cleveland, where art openings have a knack for turning into full-on events, CMA is making sure opening weekend goes big. <\/p>\n

On Friday, Nov. 7, the museum hosts \u201cMIX: Renaissance to Revolution\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a celebration themed around Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cRenaissance\u201d era. DJ Lily Jade and DJ Black Unicorn will spin disco and house tracks inspired by \u201cQueen Bey\u201d herself, with guests encouraged to show up in glam looks worthy of the Italian runway or the dance floor.<\/p>\n

The programming continues with a Tuesday, Dec. 2 lunchtime lecture, \u201cColoring \u2018Renaissance to Runway\u2019: Fashioning Red in Italian Fashion,\u201d led by Lisby. It explores the history of red \u2014 the dye of power, luxury, and seduction \u2014 from the Renaissance kermes beetle to contemporary Valentino gowns.<\/p>\n

A lavish 200-page exhibition catalogue accompanies the show, art directed by former Vogue Italia creative Luca Stoppini. It includes essays from fashion scholars, curators, and critics like Matteo Augello, Alessandra Arezzi Boza and Luke Meagher (@HautLeMode), along with digital installations by Francesco Carrozzini and Henry Hargreaves that interpret the exhibition\u2019s themes through photography and film.<\/p>\n

All together, \u201cRenaissance to Runway\u201d is more than a fashion exhibition. It\u2019s a meditation on legacy \u2014 how Italian creativity has endured, evolved, and continued to seduce the world through beauty and craft. It also reinforces something Cleveland art lovers already know: that CMA isn\u2019t just keeping pace with the world\u2019s great museums; it\u2019s setting its own rhythm.<\/p>\n

Tickets are required for the exhibit, on sale now at clevelandart.org<\/a>. The show runs through Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

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