Crazy Krizia

Abstract

This essay is an analysis of some collections from the Eighties by Krizia (Maria Mandelli, 1925-2015). The study starts from the analysis of CSAC archive, from which emerges a fund, still partially unpublished, dedicated to Krizia. As Umberto Eco says the fashion designer has established relationships with literature, theater and painting, in fact, he says, "that like the arts also fashion is a mirror of the time, and creates social meaning". Krizia has always been committed to experimenting with new materials, cuts and sources of inspiration. She is therefore placed in the Eighties as a figure that moves in a hybrid way between various cultures, absorbing models, poetics and mental states. A fashion designer who "as an observation channel" on the Eighties is able to reflect the post-modern climate summarized, as Gianni Vattimo states, in the concepts of pluralism, weakening of the sense of reality and general aestheticization of everyday life. The Krizia collection includes about 25509 works (first donation) to which are added 14597 works (second acquisition), for a chronological period from 1967 to 2000. Figures, drawings, sketches, mixed media on paper, photocopies and fabric samples applied on many drawings.