Mapping the Hidden Threads of “Made in Italy”

OPENING REMARKS
Barbara Faedda (Executive Director, Italian Academy)

SPEAKERS
Eugenia Paulicelli (Professor of Italian Studies, Comparative Literature, and Women's Studies at Queens College and The CUNY Graduate Center)
Fashion, cultural heritage and 'Made in Italy
Samuele Briatore (Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome)
The plural value of Italian fashion museums: from inventory to cultural mapping
Romana Andò (Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, Head of the Master Programme in Fashion Theory and Practices)
From cultural policy to integrated heritage-industry strategy
Francesca Granata (Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons School of Design)
Fashion criticism: a delay in legitimization

ABOUT THE EVENT

This event is part of the Academy's (IOCH), established in 2016 by Executive Director Barbara Faedda. IOCH is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and study of cultural heritage, with fashion as one of its key areas of focus. In 2019, the Academy organized the conference to explore fashion's interpretation of cultural heritage, alongside the exhibition , which examined the emergence of Italian fashion designers in the American market.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the IOCH, Barbara Faedda invited Romana Andò to present her groundbreaking research project at Columbia University's Italian Academy. Professor Andò leads a research initiative in Rome that maps, connects, and enhances Italian fashion-related collections preserved in museums, foundations, and archives across Italy. She uses a multidisciplinary and technology-driven approach, and in this gathering she will talk about her progress and converse with other experts in the field.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH INITIATIVE

The project—“CHANGES – Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society”—is being developed within the SARAS Department at Sapienza University of Rome; it is funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), a national program designed to support innovation, sustainability and digital transformation in strategic sectors, including cultural heritage.
Within Spoke 2, dedicated to Fashion Cultural Heritage, the project adopts a multidisciplinary and technology-driven approach to map, connect and enhance Italian fashion-related collections preserved in museums, foundations and archives across the country.
In 2023 and 2024, the research team identified and surveyed more than 1,200 institutions linked to fashion across all Italian regions. This extensive mapping has been consolidated into a digital database that gathers information on each institution and makes this largely invisible heritage accessible, interconnected, and available for future research, networking, and audience-engagement strategies.
Alongside the database, the project has produced a printed catalogue titled TRAME. Il tessuto italiano dei musei e degli archivi di moda, published by Silvana Editoriale. The volume presents 450 institutions that actively contributed to the narrative of Italian fashion heritage. Each participating institution selected a representative object from its fashion or costume collection and provided an image and a short descriptive text written by curators, directors, archivists or internal staff. The catalogue offers a vivid and curator-driven portrait of Italy’s diverse and multifaceted fashion heritage.

Co-Sponsor:
Sapienza University of Rome

Organizer:
Romana Andò (Sapienza University of Rome)

Doors open at 4:30pm. Registration does not guarantee a seat; registrants are seated first-come, first served.
This event is in-person only.

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Host or Publisher The Italian Academy of Columbia University