Are you around the Venice area this afternoon and you want to know more about the local textile history? Head to the Centro Candiani in Mestre (at 5.00 pm) where researcher and historian Doretta Davanzo Poli will present a lecture about the library, the collection of fashion prints, etchings and sketches and the textile archives of the Centro internazionale delle Arti e del Costume (International Arts and Costume Centre; CIAC).
The centre was originally founded in 1951 and was located in Palazzo Grassi, Venice: in the '60s its textile library preserved around one thousand textile samples; it was enriched up until the '70s with rare fabrics, garments and accessories from the 1500s to the 1900s.
The institution became known for organising exhibitions, lectures and debates about textiles, costumes and fashion.
The CIAC was also famous for its thematic fashion shows quite often revolving around specific fibres, from natural materials such as silk to synthetic fibres including nylon, rayon, acetate, lurex and many more.
Many fashion houses - among them Balenciaga, Marucelli, Balmain, Schuberth, Biki, Carosa, Fontana, Cardin, Pucci and Capucci - presented their collections at Palazzo Grassi.
The last event took place there in the early '70s and, when the centre closed, its library, specialised in historical textiles and laces, moved to Palazzo Mocenigo, the Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes, and that's where you should be heading if you ever decide to carry out an intense research about rare pieces such as a cope (a liturgical vestment ) in soprarizzo (literally "over-the-curls") velvet from the 1600s. .
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