Today I headed for the heart of Rome to visit the Micol Fontana Foundation. Though I had a map and the address, I walked up and down the street several times and finally had to ask for directions. The postman pointed me to a doorway with no sign indicating the proper address or a sign for the foundation. On trust, I entered the building indicated and wandered down a dark corridor, up a set of stairs, and then rang a tiny buzzer next to another nondescript door. When a woman came to greet me at the door, I knew that I was in the correct place. Bookshelves lined the walls in the tiny entry and glamorous women dressed in elegant gowns stared down at me from posters that lined the walls and touched the ceiling. I recognized some of them as the female jewels of the 1950s and 60s. Ava Gardner, Grace Kelley, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn all donned dresses with yards of fabric decorated with lace, beads, and tucks to highlight their figures. In another corner, I noticed a picture of Jackie Kennedy in a ball gown standing next to President John Kennedy.
The woman then guided me out of the first room and along a hallway. To one side, I passed silk wedding gowns with venetian lace and rows of tiny covered buttons reaching from the collars down the front or back of the dresses. On the other side of the passageway were dresses more appropriate for a Hollywood cocktail party or an evening out at a club as envisioned in the movies of the 1950s. Finally, I reached a light-flooded room with a wall of windows leading to a lovely terrace, hidden from the busy cobbled streets. This room was like a personal library of fashion by the Fontana sisters. Books containing and commemorating their work over the years lay scattered across a table. On the walls were drawings of their designs and pictures of the sisters with both family and some of their most famous clients.
Who were these sisters who became so sought after by the elite of Rome, Hollywood, and Washington, D.C.? The three Fontana sisters, Zoe, Micol, and Giovanna, grew up just outside Parma. Their mother was a seamstress as was their grandmother. As one sister, Micol, stated, “sewing was in our blood.” From the age of 10, Micol was doing fittings for her mother’s clients. They would come to see her on Sundays after the 5:00 a.m. mass. Though their mother had a steady stream of customers keeping them busy, the sisters became restless as they grew older. With the approval of their parents (which didn’t come easily in those days), they set off for the city. When they arrived at the train station, they didn’t know whether to go to Milan or Rome, so Zoe, the oldest, decided to choose by whichever train came first. It happened to be a train to Rome.
The sisters set up a workshop in Rome and soon were busy with work from the elite of Italy. Their big break onto the world stage of fashion came with the commissioning of the wedding dress of Linda Christian, a movie star, to another American actor, Tyrone Power. They were married in Rome with cameras from all over the world snapping pictures and publishing them in magazines and newspapers. From the well-publicized Rome event, the sisters gained the attention of Hollywood and eventually the First Lady of the United States, Jackie Kennedy. Micol recalled how the bell rang one evening at her studio in New York, and to her surprise, it was President Kennedy and the First Lady. That was the beginning of a long relationship with the Kennedys. Jackie, evidently, would pick several dresses, and then her husband would help her choose which one to wear at which event.
Though the client list was extensive and impressive, my attention drifted to the beautiful dresses in the third room. From the table, I could see skirts in all hues glittering in the light. Haute couture gowns designed by the Fontana sisters from the 1940s to the 1990s lined the walls. One of Micol’s nieces pointed out a dress made for Audrey Hepburn. Tiny beads of venetian glass (in the days before swarovski crystals) were stitched in scroll patterns around the silk chiffon skirt. The dress came from the period of time when Audrey Hepburn was filming Roman Holiday and her romance with Gregory Peck. Behind me, another full length dress of blue silk velvet caught my eye. Flowers fashioned after persian floral designs stretch across its bodice and down to the skirt in threads of real gold.
As I prepared to leave after my tour, I felt a bit sad. The days of such beautiful dresses and craftsmanship may be coming to an end. It is now difficult to find the materials and the craftspeople to create such beautiful beadwork and gowns — even in China. The artisans who labored over these creations were skilled Italians, but the workshops are now empty. The task set before the Micol Foundation is to keep their legacy alive through teaching seminars and holding competitions.
Though not open to the public on a daily basis, tours can be arranged through the foundation website. It is an opportunity well-worth pursuing. http://www.micolfontana.it/eng
Joy Van Eaton
Home Was Not Built in a Day 