In conversation with... Paola Di Trocchio, fashion and textiles curator at the NGV

Which trends do we follow today and how will they be seen in the future?

These are some of the questions we ask Paola Di Trocchio, Curator of International Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), who kindly spoke with us among the archives of the oldest museum in Melbourne.

Born in Australia to Italian parents, Di Trocchio formed a strong connection with Italy from her childhood through to her university years.

She often visited relatives in Italy, and her trips to the Belpaese were essential in exposing her to culture and the world of fashion.

“Italy is an enormous source of inspiration for my work,” Di Trocchio says.

“I often visit the Museum of Costume and Fashion in Palazzo Pitti in Florence.

“Milan is another city I visit often, for Fashion Week and also as part of my research for the PhD I am doing at RMIT.”

Di Trocchio’s relationship with the NGV began in 2003, when she undertook an internship at the museum following her studies at Monash University.

As some readers will remember, the NGV was closed from 1999 to 2003 for restoration.

During that period, all works of art were moved to a building in North Melbourne.

One of Di Trocchio’s first tasks was to pack away the fashion collection for its transferral back to the main museum.

She also curated her first show, called ‘House Mix’.

Today, Di Trocchio is head of the Department of Fashion and Textiles.

“Part of my work consists in organising shows and changing over collections, acquiring pieces for a specific collection, participating in seminars and conferences for show promotion, and basically taking care of the exhibition from its opening until its close,” she says.

Throughout the years, she has curated various exhibitions, including one she was particularly fond of and that was dedicated to Edward Steichen, a photographer and painter from Luxemburg who now resides in the US.

In that exhibition, 200 of Steichen’s photos taken between 1923 and 1938 were shown.

During that period, Steichen worked as photographic director for two of the most eminent fashion magazines: Vanity Fair and Vogue.

“In preparation for Edward Steichen’s show, we worked through the archives of Condé Nast, an American publishing house which distributes some of the most noted American and international magazines, such as Vogue and Vanity Fair,” Di Trocchio says.

“We then exhibited those photographs that were most representative of this era of glamour and beauty.”

Another show which Di Trocchio remembers with particular admiration is ‘200 Years of Australian Fashion’, inaugurated in 2016 and dedicated to two centuries in the Australian fashion industry.

‘200 Years of Australian Fashion’, National Gallery of Victoria (left to right): Australia, Evening dress c. 1805; Flamingo Park, Wattle dress and hat 1978; House of Stripes, Silver dress 1966; Gavin Brown, Indian snakes and ladders outfit 1985; Magg, Evening outfit c. 1974; Katie Pye, The party 1980; La Petite, Evening dress c. 1960; Toni Maticevski, Dali goddess 2007; Romance Was Born, Rainbow tartan feather suit 2015; Bright & Hitchcocks, Day dress 1865–70 © Courtesy the fashion houses, designers and designers’ estates. (Photo: Virginia Dowzer and Bronwyn Kidd)

“Since the settlement of the British colonies, Australia has always looked to European fashions in a particularly receptive way,” Di Trocchio says.

“Just imagine: in 1947, the first country where Christian Dior presented his new collection after France was Australia!”

That show was iconic in an important chapter of fashion history.

It gave space to Australian artists such as Linda Jackson, who was the first to use native floral motifs in her collections.

While the notion of a “fashion exhibition” might seem fairly static compared to a fashion parade, their popularity is growing.

It’s a symptom of the now-recognised necessity of examining fashion as a cultural and social phenomenon, while freeing it from that pedestal of prejudice where it has been traditionally relegated.

Displaying fashion within a static exhibition space, however, is particularly difficult for the creation of its mise-en-scene.

It’s essential to have a fashion curator present in the space, who works to develop a visual narrative in collaboration with the exhibition designer, who is responsible for creating the set.

Many fashion labels and museums underestimate the amount of organisation that goes into a fashion exhibition.

Displaying the clothes requires very specific expertise, for the simple reason that a dress is not designed to be shown in a museum.

“As a fashion curator, you must always be thinking of how to exhibit something, whether it is on a mannequin, or a bust, or shown indirectly in a photograph or film,” Di Trocchio says.

“There are many different ways to display one item of clothing.”

The narrative aspect (or the “how”) of an exhibition is without doubt a determining factor in a show’s success.

It is an aspect which has a heavy bearing on the budget and can vary greatly depending on the size of the space, or the types of materials involved.

In the case of the NGV, the museum receives state funding and also has various private sponsors and partners.

For example, with the show ‘The Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift’, which was inaugurated on March 1, the set was created thanks to the support of donor Krystyna Campbell-Pretty and her personal collection of high fashion, with pieces derived from the late 19^th century, to pieces derived from the early 20^th century, as well as pieces signed by Elsa Schiaparelli, Boué Soeurs, Christian Lacroix and Coco Chanel.

Another important year for Australian art and fashion was 2017, when ‘The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture’ came to the country, in celebration of seven decades of one of the most famous fashion houses in the world.

One of the first ever dresses designed for Dior, by Maria Grazia Chiuri, was exhibited at the show.

During an interview, Chiuri succinctly expressed her opinion on fashion and its position regarding women.

“Fashion does not impose a point of view, but makes a proposal, wherein women can recognise themselves and adapt to the proposal of the designer with their personal viewpoint, which varies from woman to woman,” she said.

“I believe that the most important goal of fashion is to express the fundamentals of a legacy while simultaneously opening a dialogue with the women of today.”

Back in the present, Di Trocchio concludes our interview observing that fashion today is seen as social expression, as well as generational of the era in which we live and as something which defines us.

But what will the next generations and future experts say about our fashions?

This is the final question we ask Di Trocchio, who responds with a smile:

“I believe that the fashion of today is quite kitsch; from the accessories to the clothing, there is a passion for exaggeration both throughout Australia and the entire Western world.”