“Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses” is a stylish special exhibition on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) through Feb. 1, 2026. It features approximately 80 ensembles and garments and 40 jewelry pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries alongside Renaissance artworks. The CMA features Italian fine, decorative, and textile arts dating from the 1400s to the early 1600s from their permanent collection. Connections between couture, called “alta moda” in Italian, and Renaissance, Mannerist, and early Baroque periods are vividly brought to life through eye-catching ensembles juxtaposed with historic art amidst richly textured backdrops.
Famous names in fashion and jewelry—Armani, Buccellati, Bvlgari, Ferragamo, Pucci, Valentino, and Versace—are in dialogue with Old Master art by the likes of Bronzino and Veronese. While these clothes and accessories are not directly inspired by a specific artwork, Italian brands have maintained their heritage’s dedication to creativity, craftsmanship, ingenuity, and beauty. The exhibition’s curator, Darnell-Jamal Lisby, connects these brands, referred to as houses, with Renaissance society and politics:
“More than 500 years ago, families, or ‘houses,’ who ruled the states across the Italian peninsula, such as the Medici of Florence and the Sforza of Milan, used fashion as a form of power and influence, from dictating fashionable styles that were immortalized through painted portraits to controlling textile production as a form of currency.”
Runway Vignettes
One of the show’s most striking vignettes is the display of circa 1555 “Portrait of a Woman” by Mannerist painter Bronzino, court painter to powerful Florentine ruler Cosimo I de’ Medici, beside an Ensemble from Fall 2015 by Alberta Ferretti. The CMA painting depicts an unknown woman who was likely associated with the Medici court.
Bronzino’s use of a simple background highlights the sitter’s fine clothes, which symbolize elegance, wealth, and status. The woman wears a linen collar, called a partlet, that is finely embroidered in matt stitch. Some of the material is trimmed in lace, as are her cuffs. In Ferretti’s Fall 2015 collection, she referenced pointedly Italian Renaissance fashion. The CMA notes, “The emphasized lace around this ensemble’s blouse alludes to the evolution of lace collars, particularly in women’s fashion, from partlets to ruffs, throughout the 1500s.”
Another recent runway look is Nicola Brognano’s effervescent Evening Dress and Wings from Spring 2024, which recalls angelic wings from Christian art. An example of such feathered accoutrements is found in the CMA’s “The Annunciation” by Paolo Veronese. Dated to circa 1580, it is an intimate composition showing the angel Gabriel’s announcement to the Madonna that she would bear the son of God.
Royal Textiles
Historic cloths include a Venetian silk velvet stole from circa 1575–1600. At the time, the city’s laws required certain officials to wear specific-colored textiles. The high-level government official known as a Procurator was mandated to wear a red stole. The CMA’s is a rare surviving example of an entire, uncut loom. The line down the center would have been cut to make two items. The textile’s elaborate pattern is formed by its longer pile.
Especially costly velvets were woven with metallic thread, heightened symbols of prestige. The exhibit includes a fragment from likely the back of a chasuble, a sleeveless ecclesiastical vestment. This silk velvet has gold metal thread and dates to circa 1450–1500. Like the show’s more contemporary clothing, there is immaculate attention to detail in this piece. It has lush, projecting pile and a pattern of large pomegranates, which were fashionable motifs during the period.
House of Jewels
The luxury Italian jewelry house Buccellati was founded in 1919 by Mario Buccellati. His descendants are still involved in the business. The legacy of the house continues its founding design principles, which drew on Renaissance goldsmith styles and techniques. The Violante Pendant Brooch from 2007 is made of amethyst, multicolored gold, and diamonds.
The CMA explained that “its symmetrical and rigid diamond setting, was inspired by the facade of Renaissance palaces, expanding the scope of references that Italian fashion houses and designers have interpreted.”
In addition to glittering threads and gemstones, a golden shoe is part of the exhibit. Jewel Sandal for the house of Ferragamo was featured in the Fall 2023 collection. It is a nod to an earlier sandal made by the company’s founder, Salvatore Ferragamo, for an American client in 1956. He was commissioned to create an 18-karat gold sandal. His design featured a vine-like floral engraved on the heel and straps, reminiscent of decorative themes in Renaissance art. He was enamored with Italian Renaissance art and often referenced the period in his work.
Maximilian Davis, the current Creative Director of Ferragamo, created Jewel Sandal not in precious metal but in laminated leather, which the CMA cited as “fit for the comforts of contemporary fashion while extenuating the same elegance as the original design.”
Weaving together modern and contemporary Italian fashion with 15th- through 17th-century art from the peninsula reveals a foundational continuity of a specific, particularly Italian aesthetic. The textiles and the figures in historic artworks are brought to life by the ensembles and jewels inspired by the era, and as a result are reciprocally enhanced for the viewer. The incredible artistry of the fashions makes the case that such objects belong in museums and fulfill Lisby’s goal to show “how fashion is a conduit for understanding respective cultures across time.”
“Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses” exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art will run through Feb. 1, 2026. To learn more, visit clevelandart.org.
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to features@epochtimes.nyc
