ITS Arcademy: The Many Lives of a Garment

ITS Arcademy is Italy’s first contemporary fashion museum, a place of creative discovery and learning designed for everyone, where visitors can explore fashion as a form of contemporary art.

A journey through its galleries captures the imagination and stimulates the senses, unleashing your creativity - no design background needed.

The museum Collection archives 14840 creative project portfolios, 1100 garments, 165 accessories, 120 jewellery pieces, and over 700 photographic works, preserving them for future generations. It is a unique and invaluable compendium of radical and innovative creative projects by emerging designers from all over the world.

Image: ITS Arcademy, The Many Lives of A Garment. Photo by Massimo Gardone.

Currently on display until 6 January 2025, The Many Lives of a Garment
Curated by Olivier Saillard and Emanuele Coccia, this exhibition invites visitors on an immersive journey through the evolving value and significance of garments at different stages of their lifecycle. By examining clothing in both domestic and public contexts, the exhibition offers a deep and nuanced understanding of how garments transcend their material form to become carriers of personal and cultural stories.

The exhibition features designs from the renowned ITS Collection, displayed alongside everyday clothing items loaned by visitors as well as iconic pieces from actresses Charlotte Rampling and Tilda Swinton. This juxtaposition of high fashion and personal apparel highlights the universal and democratic nature of clothing as a medium of expression.

Image: The Many Lives of A Garment curated by Olivier Saillard and Emanuele Coccia.

A unique participatory section of the exhibition encourages local citizens to contribute by displaying their most cherished garment. These items, which are not necessarily the most beautiful or expensive, reveal the profound power of fashion to tell and preserve intimate and collective stories. This interactive element underscores the exhibition’s theme of clothing as a living archive of human experience.

The Many Lives of a Garment is on display at ITS Arcademy until 6 January 2025.

Find out more and plan your visit:
itsweb.org/its-arcademy