See ‘Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses’ in Cleveland

The long, black Alberta Ferretti halter dress with a white lace blouse stands alongside “Portrait of a Woman,” a 16th-century Agnolo Bronzino painting that depicts its subject wearing a lace partlet sown over the neckline of a black dress. Like the more than 100 examples of modern Italian fashions and accessories featured in “Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses,” the Alberta Ferretti ensemble appears to be inspired by the depictions of style seen in art of the past. 

The exhibition, on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art Nov. 9 through Feb. 1, compares contemporary fashions to Italian fine, decorative and textile arts from the 1400s to the early 1600s. Five hundred years ago, powerful Italian families, or “houses” controlled textile production and set the fashion trends shown in portraiture of the time. Now, houses like Versace and Ferragamo, which are often run by families, set today’s trends while featuring fresh takes on the past. 

“You can see it in the historical sense through the art that’s presented from our collection and then also through the clothes themselves and the perspectives of the 20th- and 21st-century Italian designers,” says Darnell Lisby, associate curator of fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art. “It is an Italian story, two worlds coming together.”

The exhibition features clothing from some of the biggest designers in fashion, including Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Valentino, Moschino, Moncler and Bulgari. The outfits are each given context via works of art. A Gianni Versace-designed chainmail dress embroidered with crosses is displayed alongside a processional cross  from the museum’s collection to highlight how Catholicism inspired Versace. Several velvet textiles with a floral motif from the 1600s are presented next to a 2025 Max Mara dress in a similar fabric. 

“It’s a nice retrospective of so many different houses that have contributed so beautifully to the lexicon of fashion,” Lisby says. 

The past also meets the present through a large digital installation that greets visitors upon arrival. Acclaimed fashion creative director and videographer Francesco Carrozzini created the installation in conjunction with Henry Hargreaves and used AI to blend traditional art with the pieces on view to show how fashion transcends time. 

“Fashion can really be this portal to understanding not only layers of the past but how the past really informs the present,” Lisby says. 

11150 East Blvd., Cleveland 44106, 216/421-7350, clevelandart.org