Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Archive
Birth of the fashion system in Italy
The archive of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) enables the birth of the Italian fashion system to be reconstructed. It includes documents ranging from 1958 – the year of the establishment of the association in Rome as Camera sindacale delle moda italiana based on the Chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne – until 1987, when the association opened an office in Milan.
Preserved at the Bocconi Historical Archives since 2014, the collection contains fashion show programs, fashion sketches, fabric samples attached to promotional materials and descriptive items, photographs, press clippings, as well as more strictly administrative documentation.
The study of the fashion shows scheduled, of the participants at different dates in the various cities and of the contacts established by the National Chamber for Italian Fashion allows the relationships that led to the creation of the fashion system in Italy to b reconstructed, enriched by photographs preserved in various formats.
The complete description of the archive is available on the ASBOC portal, which reproduces the inventory published in 2018 by the General Directorate of Archives under the supervision of Elisabetta Merlo and Maria Natalina Trivisano with the title: Lo stile italiano nelle carte. Inventario dell’archivio storico della Camera nazionale della moda italiana (1958-1989).