Jacquard N°85

Leading off this 85th issue are brief notes on ‘staging’ and the composition of the contents of this issue, followed by an article centring on the recent ‘rediscovery’ at the Palio di Legnano of Lisio’s ‘Leoni’ velvet in a Chatelaine’s gown and a knight’s costume. Specifically, how the documentation available for study (oral and archival sources) recounts the history of the gown and its place in the overall picture, as a piece an immense puzzle that is still being constructed – not only through Legnano’s historical pageant but, more in general, every time such an event is staged. From presentation of the ‘Leoni’ velvet, a historic fabric among Lisio creations, we go on to an unusual subject for our magazine, with an incursion into the sector of stage jewellery restoration.

Our interest in ‘accessories’ continues with a study of a detail of women’s fashion, the handheld fan, that begins with an inventory drawn up in Sicily in 1740.

Our restoration space also welcomes the work of three Textile Sector students at the Scuola di Alta Formazione e di Studio of Florence’s Opificio delle Pietre Dure who restored three ‘fragments’ of 17th- and 18th-century fabric from Fondazione Lisio’s Collezione di Tessuti Antichi.

And before going on to the sections dedicated, as usual, to books and to exhibitions, in this issue we meet two eminent artists/craftswomen. The first is Angela Giordano, who this year is celebrating the 50th year of her career in the world of textiles; the second, Lisa Fontana, is an emerging young artist, gifted and self-confident, who has learned the arts of listening and ‘making’ both and who has already accumulated an interesting store of practical knowledge. On the one hand, therefore, vast experience, a knack for communication and an abounding generosity that transmits knowhow; on the other, the energy of youth combined with an exquisite sense of responsibility as regards seizing and expanding on potential moments of integration. Two women united by a shared passion and a boundless love for textiles.