Exhibition “Style on Stage. Art of Elegance”
On November 20, in Saint Petersburg, within the frames of “Museum Olympus” Festival, the
exhibition “Style on Stage. Art of Elegance” shall be held. The exhibition shall be housed in the
center of Saint Petersburg, in the Sheremetev Palace front suit halls – the branch of Saint
Petersburg State Museum of Theater and Music (34, Naberezhnaya Reki Fontanki).
Media preview 14 00
Press conference 15 00
Exhibition opening 16 00
The concept of the exhibition resulted from international cooperation of experienced
coordinators: Massimiliano Capella, a famous Italian art and fashion historian, and Natalia
Metelitsa, the director of Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theater and Music with Valeria
Mangani CEO of VM Company which works in the field of the haute couture industry and art of
fashion. The designer of the exhibition is Massimo Marcomini. Design solution of the
exhibition is integrated into the Sheremetev Palace’s historical interior and adapted to the
traditional museum environment.
Massimiliano Capella is an art and fashion historian, art director of museum, exhibition and
festival projects; the author and coordinator of international exhibition projects. Since 1996 he
has been curating international exhibition projects as:
“Primadonna. Maria Callas and Katia Ricciarelli’s onstage dresses” (2004)
“Missoni and Titian. Color and light of Venetian Renaissance in the 20 th century fashion”
(2004)
“Gianni Versace. The genius of fashion and art” (2006),
“Theater of artists.From Picasso to Pomodoro / from de Chirico to Guttuso. Great artists in
opera” (2007)
“Italian excellence. Art, fashion, and taste in advertising affiche” (2008)
“Fashion in theater. Fashion designers on stage” (2010)
“Roberto Capucci and antiquity” (2012)
“Roberto Capucci. In search of regality” (2013)
Natalia Metelitsa is a theater historian, director of the Saint Petersburg State Museum of
Theater and Music, the author and coordinator of international exhibition projects: “Ives Saint
Laurent and the Theater” (Leningrad, 1989), “The Art of Ballet in Russia” (Paris, 1990),
“Arabesque” (Milan, 1994), “Creators of the Russian Theater” (New York, 1997), “Polyphony”
(Milan, 1998), “From Russia With Love” (Canberra, 2000), “The Stroganovs. Art Patrons and
Collectors” (USA, 2000; the State Hermitage, 2003). “The Muses and masks” (State
Hermitage, 2005), “Do Surprise Me. Russian Ballet Seasons” (Monaco, 2009), “The Russian
Avant-garde (Japan, 2009), “Rudolf Nureyev. Threads of Time” (Saint Petersburg, 2010),
“Lenin. Stalin. Music” (Paris, 2010; Madrid, 2011), “Russian Winter” (Rome, 2011), etc.
Massimo Marcomini is an Italian architect, designer of theater interiors and international
exhibition projects: “Gianni Versace. The genius of fashion and art” (2006), “Fashion in theater.
Fashion designers on stage” (Rome, 2010; Milan, Los-Angeles, 2011).Roberto Capucci and
antiquity (2012).
At the exhibition, 216 exhibits (85 dresses and 131 sketches are to be presented) from foreign
collections – state, corporate, private, created by designers of the most famous Italian Fashion
houses for European and American theaters:Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Rome Opera
Theatre), Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (Naples San Carlo Theatre) New York City Ballet,
and great artists Mirella Freni, Raina Kabaivanska, Joaquin Cortes, Kiri Te Kanawa, June
Anderson.
Guests of the exhibition in the Sheremetev Palace will see the masterpieces of Fashion
houses Armani, Balestra, Biagiotti, Fendi, Missoni, Versace, Ferretti, and exhibits from
private collections of Roger Salas, RainaKabaivanska, Valentino Garavani; Roberto
Capucci Foundation, Maurizio Galante Archive, Missoni Archive, New York City Ballet, and
the Shremetev Palace – a branch of the Saint Petersburg State Museum of Theater and
Music.The exhibits came from European and American cities and countries: Madrid (Spain);
Rome, Naples, Milan, Varese, Modena (Italy); Paris (France); New York (the USA).
Exhibits of the permanent museum exposition in Sheremetev Palace harmoniously fit in the
exhibition context. Either being a part of the interior, or completing the exhibition, or being a
major item of designer technique, in order to highlight key points or compare the exhibits with
traditional museum interiors and items.
The exhibition “Style on Stage. Art of Elegance”, which allows for comprehensive assessment
of contribution of famous Italian designers in the art of onstage dresses and costumes, the
excellence of technique, and perfection of performance is divided into theme-related modules
interlinked, inter alia, with the order of the Sheremetev Palace suite of halls where it is
exposed.
“Fashion, theater and outstanding designers” – sketches and dresses by Versace,
onstage dresses for Joaquin Cortes – performance Soul, 2000. Designer – Giorgio Armani,
RainaKabaivanska – “Carmen”, 1986. Designer –Fedni; Carla Fraci - Teatro dell’ Opera,
1980s, designer – Laura Biagiotti, Valentino Garavani for performances “Not my girl”, “Refined
lady”, New York City Ballet, 2012, and New Year concert in the Vienne Opera in 2009.
“Roberto Capucci and opera prima donna RainaKabaivnska”,“Opera world of Maurizio
Galante”, “Space of Carmen” – the artwork of Carl Lagerfeld, Fashion House Fendi and
Alberta Feretti, “Magic world of Renato Ballestra” – sketches to the operas “Turandot” by
Puccini (1995), “Cinderella” by Rossini (1998), and “The Rose Cavalier” by Strauss (1999).
Gianni Versace artwork in creation of onstage dresses was higly demanded by opera and
ballet masters of the 20th century, and it is the section “Gianni Versace – Theatrical
Dreams”, the most extensive part of the exhibition – 24 designer’s dresses and sketches
(sketches and dresses to the Bejart’s ballet “Malreaux or Divine Metamorphoses” (1986),
Strauss’s opera “Salome” (1987), musicals “Eva Peron” byBejart, “Java forever” (1988), to the
performance “Doctor Faust” (1989), “Capriccio” by Strauss (1990), Stravinsky’s ballet “The
Firebird” (1991) that crowns the exhibition.
The idea of this exhibition was presented in 2010 in Rome, and in 2012 in Los-Angeles. The
Petersburg version will be radically different from the previous ones. The major distinction is
exposition within the interior of the Sheremetev Palace front suite (over 800 sq. meters) filled
with antique furniture, paintings, collection musical instruments, arts and crafts… The museum
exhibits will join in dialogue with uniquely presented exposition items perfectly reflect
interrelation of contemporary artistic concept with traditional museum interior. In the essence,
the exhibition is a scenic performance, while historical interiors of the Sheremetev Palace shall
become beautiful scenery for the exhibits.
During work of the exhibition, within the festival “Diaghilev. P.S.” (November 23 – 29, 2013),
(see details http://www.diaghilev-ps.ru). The exhibition is to be attended by Fashion Houses
representatives.
Delzell Foundation
Please, address for further information:
Director of St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music – Natalia Metelitsa:
theatremuseum@peterlink.ru
info@theatremuseum.ru
tel. (812) 3101029
PR director Natalia Plekhanova:
+79219189420,
n.plekhanova@principe-media.ru
Press and photo materials:
www.diaghilev-ps.ru
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ygtij634o603zyf/moda%26style.zip