With the Gabriele Mayer exhibition, the measure of invention. Art and craft of a costume tailor which opens on Friday 12 May, the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art celebrates the work of a master of the art of costume, protagonist of an intense and luminous career.

The world of entertainment is the one in which Gabriele Mayer has always moved with an exceptional creative talent. As a tailor he was the protagonist of a long historical period which began at least in 1960, collaborating on numerous cinematographic, theatrical and television productions. Retracing Mayer's work means discovering a world of high quality workers, custodians of an ancient and precious artisan knowledge, such as those who worked in the tailor's shop he owned and who contributed to the fortunes of a vast series of actors and directors. In this panorama, Mayer has created thousands of costumes ranging with great skill between prose and opera theatre, between cinema and television, intertwining collaborations with well-known costume designers and on many occasions establishing lasting relationships with important clients.

Remarkable is his work as a tailor alongside costume designers such as Milena Canonero, Giulio Coltellacci, Elio Costanzi, Zaira De Vincentiis, Piero Gherardi, Giulia Mafai, Vera Marzot, Odette Nicoletti, Enrico Sabbatini, Pierluigi Samaritani, Francesco Zito and many others, while as a costume designer he has collaborated with directors such as Luca Ronconi and Walter Le Moli. Equally valuable is his collaboration in all the most important shows of the Sistina Theater.

His activity linked to entertainment television programs was also very intense, where Mayer dressed Corrado Colabucci, Gabriella Pera, Enrico Rufini or Luca Sabatelli, personalities such as Raffaella Carrà, Milva, Mina, Heather Parisi, Lorella Cuccarini, the Solenghi trio, Lopez Marchesini. In addition to this, his collaboration with the extraordinary stage costumes by Renato Zero is significant and well-known.