After the previous post I’ve been trying to fill up my eyes with beautiful things, so I’ve been leafing through some illustration books and found a few nice drawings by Brunetta Mateldi that I'd like to share with you.
Brunetta (1904-1988) worked for the Italian fashion magazine Bellezza, but her style, influenced by impressionist drawings and avant-garde movements, was appreciated by both national and international publications.
The illustrator moved from Milan to Rome to work at the magazine where she also met journalist Irene Brin.
Brin actually wrote a fun piece in Bellezza (in 1947) in which she compared Brunetta’s relationship with fashion to a woman’s fight with a monster octopus. Despite the powerful creature tried to suffocate her with tentacles full of accessories - hats, gloves and rings - Brunetta defended herself by perfectly drawing every detail with dedication, enthusiastically keeping on doing her job.
In the same piece Brin recounted how, after seeing the work of milliner Clelia Venturi, Brunetta was suddenly moved to tears: “…at Clelia Venturi’s a kind of miracle takes place. Brunetta’s eyes turn bright with tears, the approving tears of a connoisseur, of a great worker, of an expert. It is the quality of the work, of the inspiration that moves her, almost dryly: the plum-black beret, the beret with mignonette and feathers, the beret in rosewood plush, have for her the importance of a model machine, of exemplary pictures, and she plays with the curves of the brim, with the alteration of the feathery reflections, disinterested and happy.”
The comparison is striking as Brin puts on the same level the creativity of the milliner who created exclusive pieces for the ladies of those times and the creativity of Brunetta who collected her drawings in her sketchbooks bought from the historical Pineider shop on Via Due Macelli.
Brunetta visited a flat on the top floor of a building in the centre of Milan. The flat had a swimming pool and a wonderful view on the Duomo. Quite a few women relaxed around the swimming pool, and Brunetta sketched them in their swimwear.
Solid red, blue and white colours and polka dot prints prevailed, though Gabriella Sport’s designs were the most interesting. You can see them in the illustration as sported by Emmy Poss (n. 4) and countess Mati Lambertenghi (n. 5). The former wore green silk shorts with oblique red stripes characterised by a rather charming draped motif on the hips, paired with a white shirt with a red monogram (GS) embroidered on the left sleeve. The shorts could also be worn with an ample skirt with shoulder straps. Countess Lambertenghi wore instead a blue silk drop-crotch swimsuit that could be covered with a white coat in light crease-resistant fabric and could also be accessorised with a turban, belt and gloves in the same fabric of the swimsuit.
You can even read between the lines of these two illustrations: from real women the upper class socialites portrayed in the drawings turned into models for Brunetta, maybe knowing deep down in their hearts that their lives would change soon and that, after the war, a new history of fashion would transform Milan, Italian women and the whole country, while professional models would take their place.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments