The sellout success of the preview of the Elizabeth Taylor Collection at MOCA West has won the attention of the Museum of Contemporary Art and its director, Jeffrey Deitch. Deitch joined over 200 admirers of mid-Century art and fashion for a special event at the Italian Institute of Culture February 4. The program illuminated the trendsetting partnership between Italian artists Eugenio Carmi and Getulia Alvani with fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, a native of Italy’s neighbor, Austria.
The setting for this “Jet Age” Gernreich fashion show was an exhibition of graphic design prints and textiles by the legendary “Galleria del Deposito” of Genoa, Italy. Eugenio Carmi and Getulia Alvani were leading artists in this artist managed co-operative. The lively, colorful presentation of Gernreich fashions which transformed artists’ two dimensional creations into wearable art was an audience pleasing tribute to the beneficial ties between art, design, fashion and the performing arts. Local pop musicians Sonny Bono and Connie Francis, as well as English crooner Tom Jones, made cameo appearances with a soundtrack of their Italian language recordings.
The success of program like this made possible by the ministries of culture at many foreign consulates in Los Angeles are playing an important role in L.A.’s quest to be recognized as the “Creative Capital of the World.” This art-fashion connection followed a similar program last year organized by the Goethe Institute and the Los Angeles - Berlin Sister City organization. The French Institute Alliance Française has scheduled a similar art and fashion program for this Tuesday, February 7 as part of its "Fashion Week" event schedule. Busy museum directors like Jeffrey Deitch and James Cuno have such demanding schedules that only occasional short trips to foreign art programs are possible. But in Los Angeles, many of the best art and design from around the world travels in exhibitions to visit us, thanks to the continuing success of these art diplomacy efforts.
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