From craftmanship to art making: the embroiderer of the fashion industry in Milan

Abstract

Is it possible to find new interpretations of fashion embroidery, leaving aside the aesthetic ones? In answering this question the author highlights the virtuosity that characterizes the trade of the craft  embroider and her diverse forms of craftsmanship. Such  virtuosity emerged during the ethnographic observation of the sequences that make up the production chain of fashion embroidery. With the emergence of designer luxury ready-to-wear clothing, embroidery has evolved into decoration, leaning towards materials and colours rather  than techniques of execution. This requires the embroider to put a great deal of investment in innovation. Even the technical aspect of embroidery does not rule out social relations. The embroider must know how to maneuver between two kinds of network relations: the critical ones with the fashion designers – their main customers – and the crucial ones with the suppliers.