Fashion at the Time of Fascism Italian Modernist Lifestyle, 1922-1943

The first visual history of Italian fashion and modernism covering the years of Fascism, this book is an innovative tool, which clarifies fashion's active role in shaping modern aesthetics, as well as its ambivalent status, between the spreading of international culture and the visions dictated by the Fascist regime. The outcome of extensive research, this volume explores and - for the first time - compares a wide variety of Italian sources, such as womens' glossies, fashion, film and gossip magazines; photo archives, exhibition and commercial catalogues; books and magazines on tailoring and dressmaking, design and architecture; corporate and government journals. All materials are organised in a tight sequence of images and texts, charting rhythms, rituals and lifestyles of the typical "modern" Italian day through four basic concepts: Measurements, Model, Brand and Parade.