The Making Of

Les Fantômes du cinéma

Explorations of Italian landscapes, between past and present, fantasy and reality were at the center of the short film directed by Matteo Garrone in 2020, The Tarot Garden, which showcased the Dior Haute Couture collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri through a variety of characters. For this new artistic endeavor, the two Roman creatives further their dialogue around the cinematographic qualities of the fashion show – convening collective memories and personal imagination.

Drawing from Antonio Petrangeli’s 1961 film entitled Fantasmi a Roma in which temporalities collide, they continue to explore clothes’ ability to juxtapose different eras. As a tribute to the city’s layered historical narratives, the ghosts of past centuries coexist with the modern silhouettes and architecture of today.

Established by Umberto Tirelli in 1964, following his first collaboration with director Luchino Visconti, the eponymous costume house perpetuates in its Rome-based workshops the craft of historical dressmaking. For this original film project directed by Garrone, Maria Grazia Chiuri has selected in their archives a series of iconic outfits pertaining to masterpieces of film history: replicated in off-white tarlatane, the ghost-like toiles evoke through their period cuts and constructions the characters dreamed up by the likes of Federico Fellini or Pier Paolo Pasolini. A tribute to the role of the costume designer and an opportunity to explore once again the liminal space between fiction and everyday life, between fashion and costume.