invited by the Cultural Institute of the Italian Embassy in the occasion of the Italian Semester of the Presidency of the European Union, exhibited 12 “Textile Architecture” made for the Venice Biennale in June 1995.
"Roberto Capucci al Teatro Farnese. In difesa della bellezza": the Farnese Theatre is used for prestigious events after the restoration of the Pinacoteca Nazionale. The title of the exhibition was dedicated to Capucci and was taken from the title of one of the last art works that represented up to the mid 1600s. 153 fabric sculptures from the 50s through the 90s, creation designs never made and technical designs with fabric samples. (Museum Project Publishing Catalogue)
The project has the finality to join the initiative of training seminars with the activities of the Foundation Museum: in fact the 23 dresses - a selection of the historical Archive from 1980 and 9 new creations of the year 2008-2009 - represent the mark and the style of the Maestro in his way to project, giving his contribution to Italian design.
Florence, February 9 2011 / January 2012, the Roberto Capucci Foundation Museum - Villa Bardini
“Variazioni sul tema della creatività: volute e riccioli, plissettature e geometrie in corto” : swirls and curls, plissè and geometric lines do explod from the sculputure-dress in yellow gold and fuchsia- photographed by Sham Hinchev and Marzia Messina (title of the opera “Restless Sleep”)- give life to twenty-three creations on show in this new exhibition telling a sequence of studies and variations of the artist and inventor of styles Roberto Capucci. A collection of “short”: geometrics, with sophisticated curls and interesting experiments and innovative work in plissè. Of particular effect is a creation of 2009 by Roberto Capucci in homage to Futurism, as a preview of the exhibition “Futurismo-Moda –Design. La ricostruzione dell’universo quotidiano” of the Fashion Museum and Applied Arts of the Provincial Museum of Gorizia. The exhibition, curated by Raffaella Sgubin and Carla Cerutti, has been a national event for the Celebrations of the Centenary of the Futurist Manifesto. (Catalog Provincial Museum of Gorizia). Exceptional piece in the exhibition is the “Bride in red”, a creation of 2009 made of a very special and unique fabric, the mikado - especially provided for this purpose and donated to the maestro by Corsil Tessitura Serica Montorfano of Como - presented for the first time in Venice in March 2009 in occasion of the exhibition “Roberto Capucci at Palazzo Fortuny”.
Philadelphia, March 16 / June 5 2011, Philadelphia Museum of Art
“Roberto Capucci: Art into Fashion”: this first anthological exhibition dedicated to the Maestro in the United States is a great event after many appointments taken place during the years: between 1956 and 2003 Roberto Capucci’s creations have been protagonist of individual and collective events in the most important cities of the U.S.A. In 1956 Capucci’s dresses have been presented in 14 cities of the United States; in Boston in 1958, he was given the award as the best fashion designer in the world for its innovative ‘Linea Scatola’; in 1985, Capucci presented a collection in New York at the Army National Guard Armory. ‘Fuoco’, created in 1985, is one of the most eloquent examples of the idea of a sculpture-dress , and represented the italian creativity on occasion of the exhibition “Sixty years of Italian cultural life” organized in 1986 by the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani and shown at the Columbia University, this exhibition was re-proposed the following year in Rome at the Museum of Palazzo Venezia. The exhibition “Fashion and Surrealism”, organized at the Victoria and Albert Museum of London in 1987, was repeated in 1988 at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, on this occasion three creations of 1982 by the Maestro, inspired by nature, were also exhibited. In 1994, the Guggenheim Museum in New York exhibited the creation of 1956 ‘Nove Gonne’ on occasion of the “Italian Metamorphosis” , dedicated to the evolution of Italian creativity in all its form. In 2001 at the Felissimo Gallery in New York on occasion of “Design 21” a dress of 1966 is shown in the style of the “Linea a scatola” with plastic elements; the Gallery of Dia Center, in 2003 on occasion of the exhibition “1950-2000 Theatre of Italian creativity” showed two creations of the ‘50s of the Archive Foundation. The anthological exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is cured by Dilys Blum, Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles, who wanted to analyze the desire to experience the challenges of the designer and artist Roberto Capucci illustrating the unique techniques that are positioned beyond the traditional categories of form and creative thinking. The exhibition is a study on the ability to build innovative silhouette, on the use of architectural forms, volumes and proportions, on the perspective vision that emerges from “constructions” articulated, on the ability to experiment with unusual color combinations since entering into the millimetre-folds of clothes to create new color effects. More than 80 creations, original drawings and sketches, a monumental selection which includes wondeful sculpture- dresses, underlines the singleness of sartorial work by Roberto Capucci explaining through a powerful visual impact, the characteristic of the style and the original sensibility of the Maestro. The exhibition shows all the aspects that place Capucci’s creation above trends, above fashion. The exhibition hosts the dresses created at the beginning of his career as well as famous sculpture-dresses, for example the ‘Colonna Dorica’ of 1978 and series of sculpture from 2007 honoring the city of Florence. A limited edition of Mini-Capucci’s, by request of the Museum, has been created in the creative laboratory of the Maestro to re-confirm the Capucci griffe on the American market. The 6 mini-creations use the same proportions and the same fabric of the original creations on a small scale (in the ratio of 1 to 40), they will be sold in the shop of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and on-line.(Catalogue Philadelphia Museum of Art and Yale University Press- New Haven – Connecticut).
Brescia, November 19 2011 / March 18 2012, Museo di Santa Giulia "Roberto Capucci e l'antico. Omaggio alla Vittoria Alata": a selection of pieces of the Historical Archive of the Roberto Capucci Foundation is hosted
in this site, recognized by Unesco as World Heritage, in the exhibition "Roberto Capucci e l'antico. Omaggio alla Vittoria
Alata". The exhibition, promoted and organised by Comune di Brescia and Fondazione Giacomini Meo Fiorot-
Musei Mazzucchelli and with the cooperation of Fondazione Brescia Musei, is held in the Museo of Santa Giulia
that, from June 25 of this year has been included into the prestigious and precious list of the sites considered World
Heritage of Humanity, as part of the serial site "I Longobardi in Italia. I luoghi del potere (568-774 d.C.)". Santa Giulia is
an extraordinary compound which holds, amongst other important historical/artistic heritage, the Vittoria Alata,
bronze statue of the Ist century, symbol of the city of Brescia. Roberto Capucci has created his own version of
the Vittoria Alata: a unique creation in georgette in three shades of green and mauve, with belt and underskirt in
mikado of the same color, which recall the chromatic suggestions of the mauve that covers the ancient bronze.
Thirthy sculpture-dresses which illustrate different themes of inspiration are exhibited: architectural hints but also
ideas suggested by the ancient costume, by natural elements and the rotation of seasons. The exhibition, curated by
Massimiliano Capella and Francesca Morandini, is divided into five sections : The antique. The architectural orders. The seasons. Fire, Earth, Air, Water and the Vittoria Alata. (Catalogue Allemandi)