Accademia Carrara, in collaboration with BE-STILE, presents the exhibition "Art of Fashion - Gardens of Silk. Vittorio Accornero for Gucci", thirty-five original scarves designed for the Florentine maison by one of the protagonists of twentieth-century Italian illustration, combined with a selection of works from the permanent collection.
The exhibition creates a dialogue between fashion and art, through ten combinations of scarves and works of art, the path is configured as an exciting comparison between deeply different eras and areas, capable of enhancing each other.

The scarves on display are extremely refined high fashion accessories that between the sixties and seventies were indispensable for any glamorous woman, thanks to the creative flair of Vittorio Accornero; to make them famous were female icons such as Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Onassis and Monica Vitti, promoters of a sober and aristocratic elegance, typical of the Italian style.

Vittorio Accornero de Testa (1896-1982) made his debut after the war in the field of illustration, initially under the pseudonym of Max Ninon. Numerous publications, also together with his wife Edina Altara, with prestigious magazines such as "L'Illustrazione Italiana", "La Lettura", "Grazia", "Il Secolo XX" and with Mondadori, Mursia, Hoepli. In the mid-thirties, after entering the world of cinema, as a set designer and costume designer, he began working for the Teatro alla Scala. In the fifties he devoted himself to painting and his style evolved towards a naturalism that was inspired by art, especially from the seventeenth century. In 1960 he started teaching at the Brera Academy, in the same year the call of Rodolfo Gucci, son of the founder of the company, gave life to a collaboration that lasted for twenty years.
Accornero's first scarves for Gucci are variations on the theme of means of transport, firefighters and sailing ships; characterized by a narrative structure and a very simple layout, both in the colors and in the design. To this theme is added that of the fairy tale and the Middle Ages, with images related to hunting and knights. An important novelty comes with the adoption of floral themes and the seasonality of motifs, introduced with Flora. The artist thus breaks the symmetrical and specular composition and focuses on a drawing rich in details and colors. The iconic Flora, created in 1966 for
Grace Kelly and featuring 9 flower bouquets including butterflies and dragonflies on display will complement the fragility of beauty in Jan Brueghel the Elder's Vase of Flowers with Ring and Precious Stones (1612).
Accornero's homages to the history of art are continuous. In the first scarves there are references to the miniatures of the Limbourg brothers present in the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, Flora refers to Botticelli's Primavera: an amazing rain of colors meticulously interpreted in a silk garden.