Today it's Ferragosto, the height of the Italian summer, and, if you are holidaying there, you may find plenty to do (and eat…) all over the country, from north to south. If you're not there, but you're at work and dreaming about fashion and wonderful architectures, then get inspired by this illustration, taken from the Gazette du bon ton (published from November 1912 to Summer 1915; from January 1920 through December 1925).
The Gazette featured beautiful pochoir (stenciling by hand with watercolor) works illustrating the most fashionable garments of the times by artists such as Georges Lepape, Pierre Grissaud, H. R. Dammy, Georges Barbier, Strimpl, Umberto Brunelleschi, Raoul Dufy, Maggie, and Guy Arnoux.
This pochoir (June 1915) by Barbier is entitled "Isola Bella" (literally Beautiful Island) and features elegant evening gowns by Redfern. A green palette characterized by abstract floral patterns prevails in the designs and the colours of the gowns (especially those on the right of the illustration) go rather well with the background image of the Isola Bella.
Part of the Isole Borromee (Borromean Islands – three small islands and two islets) on the Lago Maggiore, the Isola Bella was a barren rock with some fishermen's houses before Carlo III built a palazzo for his wife Isabella D'Adda. Angelo Crivelli first started working on the design of the building and the grand gardens, but the plan was completed in later years thanks to other architects including Carlo Fontana, Francesco Maria Richini, Gaspare Vismara and Giuseppe Zanoia.
The spectacular gardens, structured in ten terraces, feature an iconically enchanting amphitheatre. The gardens reunited in their beautiful design and in their purpose many disciplines - from architecture and art to history, scupture, theatre and performance. Barbier's pochoir does the same, recreating a fairy-tale like atmosphere in one image that perfectly integrates and illustrates three main disciplines - fashion, art and architecture.
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