Dressing Classy Ladies

A week or two ago I went to the Michol Fontana Foundation with my Italian Design class. The foundation was created by three sisters who moved from Northern Italy to Rome (something never done then) and they created amazing garments for some amazing women. They had a lot of samples of hand-done embroidery, which were so beautiful. I can't imagine the patience and skill those women must have had! My favorite part of the visit was when they brought out all of the old sketches for some of the garments. In those days the seamstress would actually make the dress first, and then a professional illustrator would draw the garment and then the drawing was show to clients. Then the client could pick the fabric, color, and what kind of embroidery they would like. The process was so personal, I wish on some level we had that kind of personalization today. But the sketches were AMAZING! At one point during the visit, Michol Fontana's niece brought out some of Ava Gardner's lingerie, and I got to hold it! So surreal. She was teeny!