ACCADEMIA IUAD Presents "REMADE IN ITALY": Italian Fashion Is Renewed Through the Gazes of Young Students.

On June 11, 2025, in the evocative setting of the Donnaregina Monumental Complex in the heart of Naples, Accademia IUAD – Institute of Universal Art and Design – inaugurates an exhibition that narrates and reinterprets the identity of Made in Italy through the contemporary perspective of thirty young students.

The opening evening on Wednesday, June 11 precedes the public opening of ReMade in Italy, an exhibition running until June 22 and aimed at a broad audience of fashion enthusiasts, cultural scholars, schools, creatives, and cultural tourists.

The exhibition is part of the national project Grand Tour AFAM, supported by the European Union, the Ministry of University and Research, and Italia Domani under the GTA Gran Tour AFAM 2024/26.

It represents a unique opportunity to retrace the origins and evolution of one of the most powerful and recognizable concepts in Italian culture: Made in Italy.

ReMade in Italy was born from the desire to explore and enhance the deep meaning of Italian identity, expressed not only through fashion, but also through design, art, literature, and politics—as a complex expression of a civilization that has always known how to combine beauty, thought, and innovation.

The exhibition features garments from the most important archives of Italian (and international) fashion history, alongside 30 original pieces created by second- and third-year students of the Fashion Design degree program.

These works are inspired by the great names who made Italian fashion famous around the world.

Among these figures is the visionary Gabriele D’Annunzio, who, with his unmistakable style and all-encompassing aesthetic, laid the groundwork for a national fashion identity.

The most important fashion houses of the time—from Belloni of Milan to De Nicola of Naples, to Lanutti of Rome, and even international labels like Hermès—competed to dress the Vate (Poet).

Alongside D’Annunzio stands Rosa Genoni, a pioneer of Made in Italy, who promoted a uniquely Italian stylistic identity independent from French traditions, inspired instead by the classical world and the masterpieces of the Renaissance.

The exhibition continues with a journey through the decades that established Italy as the cradle of taste and elegance—from the innovations of Salvatore Ferragamo, a brilliant interpreter of craftsmanship in a modern key, to the consecration of Italian fashion in the famous White Hall (Sala Bianca) of Palazzo Pitti.

This transformation was driven by the vision of Giovanni Battista Giorgini and the creativity of designers such as Capucci, the “sculptor of silk”; Schuberth, the demiurge of Italian-style glamour; and the Fontana Sisters, whose hands built the myth of “Hollywood on the Tiber.”

The works of two essential female figures are also explored: Germana Marucelli, an intellectual seamstress capable of weaving together fashion and philosophy, and Roberta di Camerino, known for her sumptuous velvet garments, clasp closures, and liturgical colors that expressed a mystical, fully Venetian aesthetic.

Their creations not only transformed clothing into a medium of intellectual and spiritual expression but also embodied a prophetic Italian aesthetic, anticipating the languages of future fashion.

"ReMade in Italy is an act of wonder: a journey into the soul of a country that has made beauty its destiny, style its thought, and fashion a form of eternity," emphasizes Francesco Maffei, curator of the exhibition and professor of Fashion History and Anthropology at Accademia IUAD. "Entering the archives was like leafing through a living book, where every fabric, every sketch, every word tells us who we are. Sharing that value with our students was a privilege: within those documents lies not just history, but identity, vision, and passion. To truly educate new generations, 'knowing how to do' is not enough—what matters is knowing. Archives are the living memory of Made in Italy, and IUAD is proud to contribute, through initiatives like this one, to restoring its profound meaning within the culture of design," concludes Pasquale Esposito, Artistic Director of Fashion Events at Accademia IUAD and co-curator of the exhibition.

The exhibition preserves the past and reinterprets it in a contemporary key, recognizing in Made in Italy a living and dynamic heritage—one that continually renews itself through the vision and talent of the new generations, capable of uniting aesthetics, memory, and the future.

The entire project draws strength from a rich network of collaborations with prestigious historical and cultural archives—such as the Emilio Federico Schuberth Archive, the Friends of Rosa Genoni Association, the Germana Marucelli Association, the New Giorgini Archive, and the Mazzini Research Archives—which provided valuable materials and inspirational sources for the students’ work.

The exhibition was also made possible thanks to the technical support of Bonaveri, a benchmark for exhibition scenography in international fashion.

The 30 garments exhibited in ReMade in Italy were created by: Antoniazzi Tommaso, Babovic Jelena, Bonetti Beatrice, Benedetti Giulia, Boukhris Houda, Di Donato Flavia, Veritti Emma, Gola Giorgia, Prearo Chiara, Scuriatti Silvia, Sorze Natalia, Zen Jasmine, Tazesh Saba, Vicari Anna, Antonia Rega, Acanfora Anna, Chianese Claudia, Sangermano Claudia, Ferrara Eleonora, Cammarota Gennaro, Pignatelli Gaetano, Bosso Isabel, Polese Marco, Zeolla Aurora, Marrone Claudia, Donnino Michela, Esposito Claudia, Oliveri Roberta, Ruggiero Costanza, Russo Alessia, Marigliano Salvatore, Pizza Sara, Rusciano Sara, Sorvillo Francesca.