Saturday, July 31, 2010

pictures of the Fernanda Gattinoni exhibit

The recent exhibit on Italian designer Fernanda Gattinoni had its last day in Paris yesterday, but if you couldn't make the exhibit, no worries. Lovely reader Castor was kind enough to visit and take loads of pictures, which she said I could share with all of you. She was also kind enough to translate the text pertaining to Audrey, which I will copy and paste for you. So, without further ado, Castor's pictures for everyone to enjoy:







silk gauze dress trimmed with embroidery and small pink and blue appliqué horses







silk gauze dress in ivory trimmed with silver embroidery and small blue velvet appliqué horses


an autographed publicity still for Fernanda, signed Audrey Ferrer








ivory satin organza dress dotted with tiny rhinestones







In 1955, Maria De Matteis, the costume maker from King Vidor’s War & Peace (1956) asked Fernanda Gattinoni to make Audrey Hepburn’s costumes.

Fernanda Gattinoni liked so much the costumes with a fluid and vertical form she made for the movie that at practically the same time, she was inspired by the protagonist of War & Peace to dedicate the collection Natascia to the empire style.

Audrey Hepburn was the first customer of the collection and ordered no less than five dresses and one coat. From that time, she became one of the most assiduous customers of the house. Nevertheless, even if a trusting relationship existed between the two women, they never really became friends.

“She was too perfect and I don’t like perfect people” claimed Fernanda Gattinoni later. Despite this, the great designer always recognized the incomparable elegancy of the actress: “She had an exceptional physique. Tall and thin, all the dresses she wore became essentials and luminous like a jewel.”



Again, a huge thank you to Castor for sharing all these wonderful pictures with us. If you like what you've seen, please leave a comment with your thanks!

4 comments:

Kendal said...

Oh, someone beat me to it! I went yesterday with Richard around 4pm and have some pictures as well. :-) Guess those will go on A1. lol

Breanna Davenport said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Breanna Davenport said...

I loved looking through the photographs. It felt like I was there. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

LOVE the photos! How amazing to get to go see the exhibit! I do have one thing to say though, regarding the last, little paragraph-- The quote from Gattinoni: "She was too perfect and I don't like perfect people". How could you not love Audrey? Watching her films, you almost feel like you know her and like you could have been friends, because she was kind to everyone. I think that's part of her charm. Oh well, too bad for Gattinoni, I guess!

Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos!