March 17, 2011

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s (PMA) latest big exhibition is a glorious tribute to Roberto Capucci, the renowned designer who put Italian fashion on the map after World War II. The PMA features over eighty works starting with his early career as a boy genius of Italian fashion to his legendary sculpture-dresses, wonderful works of architecturally structured fabric that achieve the status of art.  Included in the exhibition is 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. The team attended the Art Into Fashion Gala opening at the PMA on March 12 and the exhibition is at the PMA through June 5th. For more information on Art Into Fashion, click here.