Fashion’s present measured against its past: three exhibitions not to | inItaly | Ambasciatori del Territorio – inItaly

Fashion today through the lens of its history

In late summer–autumn 2026 three exhibitions across Paris, Rome and Friuli treat fashion as both document and cultural forum. Each show adopts a different narrative register but converges on a common question: how is fashion’s story constructed now?

Rafael Pavarotti — Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

The Brazilian photographer’s retrospective presents over 200 prints that blur the line between high-fashion editorials and intimate portraiture. The exhibition highlights color as a political language and traces the history of Black models in fashion, while closing with a call to environmental awareness rooted in the artist’s Amazonian origins

• Dates: from October 2, 2026 to May 2, 2027
• Venue: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
• Why go: it combines fashion photography and social engagement and offers a wide historical perspective on representation in fashion.

After — Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome

This exhibition revisits the Karl Lagerfeld–Fendi partnership as a cultural archive rather than pure nostalgia. The project reconstructs how a controversial encounter between fashion and the art world helped pave the way for the museumization of the fashion system

• Dates: ongoing, until October 25, 2026
• Venue: Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
• Why go: it sheds light on the tension between craftsmanship and academic recognition, presenting archival objects and preparatory drawings.

Italia Settanta. Creativity as antidote — Palazzo Attems Petzenstein, Gorizia

Focusing on the 1970s as a creative laboratory, this exhibition maps the interplay of visual arts, fashion and design. Iconic garments, installations and design pieces reveal how the decade shaped new aesthetics and the industrial growth of Italian fashion

• Dates: ongoing, open until November 29, 2026
• Venue: Palazzo Attems Petzenstein, Gorizia (with related materials at Galleria Spazzapan, Gradisca d’Isonzo)
• Why go: it contextualizes the industrial and creative roots of Italian fashion and the exchange between art and product design.

Practical tips: check official museum websites for opening hours and exceptional closures; book tickets in advance for popular retrospectives and consider guided visits to better interpret archival material and fashion objects

Where it is

Location:

Coordinates: 41.9168866, 12.4819584