Nighttime Elegance at Vittoriale Showcases D’Annunzio’s Women’s Wardrobe

“For Not to Sleep – Nighttime Elegance at the Vittoriale” is the title of the exhibition set up in the Sottoteatro del Vittoriale degli Istriani in Gardone Riviera, which will remain open until September 10, 2000.

For the first time, clothing items belonging to women stored in the wardrobes of the Stanza delle Ospiti will be displayed, reserved for the many women who brightened the nights of the Vate.

Silk nightgowns by Biki, chiffon black negligés and colored crêpe, tunics with gilded network, large floral shawls, robes, bathrobes, etc., will be accompanied by photographic images of the “night beauties” who wore them.

These include famous figures such as Ida Rubinstein, Elena Sangro, Luisa Casati Stampa, or ordinary girls from Gardone attracted by d’Annunzio’s generosity.

Details about the Ladies of the Vittoriale

The guests were dressed, made up, and perfumed by Aélis Mazoyer, the faithful French housekeeper who meticulously followed the Vate’s instructions: each woman had to embody the most up-to-date version of femininity, adorned with “navel” necklaces and smoking cigarettes with long ivory-tipped filters according to the fashion of the time.

Before reaching the marital bed, the chosen woman had to parade through the rooms of the Vittoriale: “… when she walks in front of the Michelangelo Prison smoking a cigarette, like a long bar counter, the 20th century already seems remote and imbued with the enchantment of the past…”

In addition to the garments, precious grooming objects will be displayed, along with jewelry borrowed from Buccellati, and autographed notes by d’Annunzio on female elegance.

There will also be the Vate’s underwear: linen, nightshirts, and luxurious robes in brocade and velvet with matching slippers, demonstrating the poet’s almost maniacal attention to every detail of dressing.