Film, fashions wed in fall Florence fete

Five shows, 90-pic retro planned

By DEBORAH YOUNG

ROME -- Fashion and Cinema, or how the movies communicate through style, is the theme around which the second Fashion Biennale of Florence is unwrapping this fall. Five separate shows and a 90-pic retro on film and fashion are planned in Florence, Prato and Livorno from Sept. 19 through Dec. 10. Sponsoring the event are the city of Florence and the region of Tuscany.

Unusual settings, including an abandoned train station, have been chosen by president Leonardo Mondadori and his team to imaginatively link clothes and the movies. Creative talents such as cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, production designer Dante Ferretti and photographer Oliviero Toscani are among the event curators.

World preems planned

Special events include a series of Euro premieres, organized by Richard Martin, curator at the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Already announced are "Ever After" helmed by Andy Tennant, and Vincent Ward's "What Dreams May Come."

A highlight will be the 90 titles, many American, selected from film archives by Vieri Razzini in a retrospective illustrating how the movies create fashion trends, or reflect new tendencies and spread them through their great power of suggestion.

Fashion houses Alberta Ferretti, Fendi, Romeo Gigli, Krizia, Moschino, Prada and Versace helped finance restoration work on a number of Italian classics, from Michelangelo Antonioni's "La Notte" to Federico Fellini's "And the Ship Sails on."

Oscar-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci and Elena Mannini are in charge of "Oscar Costumes," a show focusing on costumes worn by leading actors in Academy Award-winning films of the past decade. Among the movies are "Titanic," "The Last Emperor" and "Dangerous Liaisons."