Diva!

From May 24rd to July 23rd, 2023, the Musée National de la Parure - Oudayas in Rabat, Marocco hosts the exhibition DIVA! Italian Glamour in Fashion Jewellery, curated by Alba Cappellieri, Professor of Jewellery and Fashion Accessory Design at the Milan Polytechnic, as well as Director of the Museum of Jewellery in the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, and member of the Scientific Committee of the Cologni Foundation in Milan, of the Ecole Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris and of the Gijs Bakker Foundation in Amsterdam.

With more than 200 pieces on display, the exhibition is dedicated to elegance, creative flair, manufacturing quality and close attention to materials and workmanship, all typical characteristics of this area of undisputed Italian excellence.
The exhibition shows a fruitful intertwining of stylists, costume jewellery makers and independent designers, demonstrating how quality does not simply depend on the preciousness of the materials, but is also the result of the intangible value of creativity, craftsmanship and innovation. Jewellery is therefore a unique model of know-how, which manages to combine craftsmanship and technical skills with the ability to foresee new scenarios, languages and habits, and is intended to be shared with Morocco and its great craft tradition.

Opening: May 23rd, 2023 at 5:30pm (WAT)!


The exhibition is created in partnership with Ambasciata d'Italia in Marocco, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Rabat, La Fondation Nationale des Musées (FNM), and POLI.Design.

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The book describes two hundred Italian fashion jewels representing the aesthetic mirror of the society, from Dolce Vita in the 1950s to the Prêt-à-Porter of the 1980s, from Minimalism in the 1990s to the Fashion Tech of the new millennium. Jewels that show the transformation of styles and customs, women’s ambitions and their achievements, the evolution of shapes, materials and new production techniques.
It is the tale of a typically Italian story for the ability to match creativity and manufacturing, craftsmanship and industry, art and technology, beauty and innovation.

Alba Cappellieri is Full Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, where she is the Director of the International Master in Jewellery & Fashion Accessories Design. She is the Director of the Vicenza Museum of Jewellery and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ecole Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris, of the Gijs Bakker Foundation in Amsterdam and of the Fondazione Cologni in Milan.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

THE ITALIAN EXCELLENCE
Creativity, craftmanship and innovation

JEWELLERY OR BIJOU?
Fashion jewellery

ON PRECIOUSNESS
Material or conceptual?

FROM ANCIENT WORLD TO MODERN AGE
The origins of the Italian fashion jewellery

FROM THE DOLCE VITA TO THE PRÊT-À-PORTER
Italian fashion jewellery conquers the world

FROM ART DESIGN TO FASHION TECH
New jewellery for a new millennium

ENTRIES OF THE WORKS

Bijoutiers

Fashion Designers

Designer

BIBLIOGRAPHY