February 20, 2011

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's (PMA) big exhibition was a glorious tribute to Roberto Capucci, the renowned designer who put Italian fashion on the map after World War II. Included in the exhibition was Film & Video professor Lise Raven's ten minute documentary, The Birth of the Italian Fashion Industry. Lise was assisted by Film & Video students Elyssa Cusimano, Rich Hamilton and Chip Murphy, and produced the film with Dilys E. Blum, the PMA's Curator of Costume and Textile who curated the current Capucci exhibition Art into Fashion. 

The documentary details how young designer Roberto Capucci, who had an eye for the architectural and sculptural aspects of fashion design, created works of art that redefined fashion of the era. After nine months of collaboration between Raven and Blum, Elyssa Cusimano, a Film & Video senior began editing the project, assembling archival film clips and photographs. Senior Rich Hamilton wove together the narration, voiced by Sprout TV's "Sunnyside Up Show” host Kelly Vrooman, and senior Chip Murphy did all the color correction.  The result is a fascinating introduction to Capucci's elegant and colorful work.