November 20-23, 2014
Closing Remarks and Photo Gallery
Color Connection Showcase Area
Exclusive Visits and Appointments
From the morning sunlight striking the green and white marble façade of The Duomo to the brilliant array of color on display throughout the city’s boutiques, Florence dazzles us with color. Color to admire, to purchase and to immerse yourself in. So what better subject for Costume Colloquium IV than Colors in Fashion, to be held in Florence, November 20-23, 2014.
Costume Colloquium will feature presentations on a wide range of topics, including current research on subjects as diverse as color as an expression of power, the role of color in constructing identity, the creation of color via contemporary technical advances, alongside the classification and codification of color. The chronological and geographical range of Costume Colloquium IV will be matched by the chromatic diversity of papers discussing color in: 10th century Japan, occupied Paris during WWII, 19th century Sweden and contemporary Nigeria, with a multitude of speakers representing nations from around the world.
Naturally enough for a conference exploring color in fashion, black, arguably a non-color, will be much to the fore. Additionally Colors in Fashion will discuss themes such as colorlessness, faded color, transitory color, with papers that engage in the full spectrum of color such as the colors of early tinted fashion films, the pink and blue of nurses uniforms, the legal complexities of the red-soled shoe and the evocative names given to 19th century aniline dyes; cabbage green, Tyrian purple and Eugénie blue.
The Colloquium is particularly honored this year to welcome the Maison Emilio Pucci, the international authority on colorful haute couture, as one of its supporters. All conference participants will travel to Castelfiorentino for a private tour of the Pucci Archive in the family’s Villa di Granaiolo. While in Castelfiorentino they will also explore the Teatro del Popolo and the BEGO Museum where Benozzo Gozzoli’s magnificent frescoes provide a stunning historical context for our contemporary understanding of decorative color. Other highlights include the opportunity to view some rarely exhibited costume gems in the collection of the Stibbert Museum in Florence and the new dress installation of the Galleria del Costume in the Palazzo Pitti which recently commemorated its 30th year anniversary.
So to discover why legal robes are black, how color could be positively harmful in the 19th century, what signals are relayed by the colors of the iconic Bunny Girl costume and how Viktor & Rolf are re-thinking color, join us for what will be the most vibrant of the Costume Colloquiums so far and help us update Henry Ford’s famous dictum and declare that we need any color as long as it’s black, green, pink, yellow, red, purple…!
Click here to view the PDF Presentation of Costume Colloquium IV
