Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts

Born in 1999 within the Provincial Museums of Gorizia, the Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts represents one of the very few Italian museum institutions organically dedicated to the history of textiles and costumes.
The exhibition itinerary, which winds through the Dornberg, Tasso and Formentini houses, opens with a section dedicated to the production, processing and weaving of silk, activities that in Gorizia, part of the Habsburg Empire until 1918, were of great importance, especially in the eighteenth century, thanks to the impulse given by the emperors Maria Teresa and Giuseppe II. Simple and excellent quality silky fabrics were made, such as taffetas and gros de Tours, but also small works and splendid damasks. The story of this page of history is entrusted to textile samples and machinery, including a monumental circular silk twisting machine dating back to the mid-1700s.

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Museum, a new exhibition was inaugurated with a selection of the collections based on three common threads: stripes, squares and flowers. Three patterns that cross the history of costume, changing connotation and meaning even in a radical way.

Between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries they are beloved decorative motifs, which color the clothes (and accessories!) Of men, women and children with varying degrees of (in) formality. The fashion figures and the multifaceted objects bear witness to this. We start with fabric samples (silk, of course) to move on to dresses, jewels, lace, hats, embroidered handkerchiefs, bags, parasols. An interactive multimedia installation allows the visitor to try his hand at textile design, creating the most varied combinations to his liking.

The central part of the exhibition exhibits clothes with striped and checked fabrics, ranging from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Among the most spectacular, the women's dresses of the mid-19th century, destined to be worn with wide crinolines. Another multimedia installation takes the visitor on a journey through the history of costume, between domestic interiors, gardens and theaters.

The last part of the path is a sequence of situations inspired by the flower theme. They range from eighteenth-century men's clothing, more flowery than a herbarium, to the parasol of the 1920s. Among the women's dresses, those designed by Maria Monaci Gallenga, with flowers inspired by Renaissance fabrics, are worth mentioning, but a parade of twentieth-century dresses makes it clear how much the floral theme has been frequented throughout the century. The path ends with a shower of flowers that creates atmospheres of pure poetry.

The Museum is managed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region through the ERPAC - Regional Body for Cultural Heritage.