Accessori di classe

Always considered essential to completing an outfit, hats, bags, shoes, gloves, canes, umbrellas, handkerchiefs, and fans are not only everyday objects that have accompanied us for centuries, but also elements that contribute to defining the status and social belonging of the men and women who wear or use them. A play on words could be said to be classy objects that also serve to mark class differences within society.

Often associated with luxury and power, fashion accessories, thanks to their sophisticated designs and the refinement and preciousness of their materials, also emphasize the irreducible uniqueness of their owners. Through a close comparison with their representations in works of art of the time, the exhibition aims to illustrate the history and evolution of various types of fashion accessories between the 1830s and the first three decades of the 20th century.

A period that largely coincides with what has been called, not surprisingly, the "century of the bourgeoisie," demonstrating how men's and women's tastes change rapidly over time. Thus, items considered "essential" for centuries have sometimes lost some of their charm. This is the case with the hat, until recently the quintessential accessory, now worn much less frequently; or the fan, used since the time of the ancient Egyptians to cool oneself or ward off pesky insects. A popular and regal object, it reached the height of its popularity during the reign of Louis XIV, only to gradually lose its appeal until a few summers ago, when it unexpectedly returned to fashion, becoming the most useful and "eco-friendly" of must-haves. Conversely, other accessories have only become objects of desire over the last hundred years, including shoes and bags. Along the exhibition, important representative portraits, lively and animated genre scenes, advertising posters, fashion sketches, sales catalogs, and fashion magazines are counterpointed by real objects. These objects are almost never simple artifacts for everyday use, but true witnesses to the tastes and society of the time, as well as examples of high-quality craftsmanship that intrigue, fascinate, and lead us all to reflect on both the lives of those who carefully and creatively conceived and skillfully crafted them, and those of those who purchased and wore them.

Among the more than 200 objects on display are approximately sixty paintings and sculptures from public and private collections by artists from both Ticino and Italy, including some of the most celebrated names in art history, such as Giacomo Balla, Giovanni Boldini, Telemaco Signorini, Mosè Bianchi, Eliseo Sala, Vincenzo Cabianca, Vittorio Matteo Corcos, Bernardino Pasta, Spartaco Vela, Filippo Franzoni, Adolfo Feragutti Visconti, and Luigi Rossi.

The exhibition offers much more, however, not least the opportunity to delve deeper into the production and marketing of some of these artifacts.

Thanks to the collaboration of the State Center for Dialectology and Ethnography and, in particular, the Onsernonese Museum in Loco, a focus is placed on the making of straw hats, baskets, and bags, a typical activity of the Onsernone Valley, which exported these products to markets in Lombardy and Piedmont, as well as to Germany and France. A comprehensive historical section also aims to recreate, through photographs, work tools, and original documentation, the atmosphere of hat production and commerce in Ticino, with a tour of the most important fashion shops and department stores active during that period, particularly in the Lugano area.

The exhibition concludes with the figure of Lugano-born designer Elsa Barberis. The simplified and modern forms of her clothing marked the beginning, in the 1940s, of a new era in fashion and ushered in a new way of designing and experiencing accessories.