MILAN — Amid slumping fashion sales, supply chain scandals and the urge to attract and train a new generation of qualified workers, Italy’s fashion chamber is upping its commitment to enhance the Made-in-Italy ecosystem as well as the narrative around the industry.
On Wednesday evening, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, or CNMI, released a documentary titled “Grand Tour. Viaggio attraverso le Accademie delle Arti e dei Mestieri, “ or “Grand Tour. A Journey Through the Academies of Arts and Crafts.”
The documentary celebrates the training and generational hand-down of artisanal skills, involving a pool of fashion brands that have opened the doors of their academies for the occasion. These included the likes of Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Kiton, Tod’s, Valentino and the OTB Group.
A still from the documentary, featuring Kiton’s academy.
Courtesy of CNMI
The 45-minute film premiered at the Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber theater in Milan to coincide with the national day dedicated to Made in Italy, which occurs on Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday.
Before the screening, CNMI’s chairman Carlo Capasa stressed the importance of the project’s theme, which is centered around the training of new talents.
“In the 17th and 18th century, all the intellectuals and artists used to come here to discover and learn more about culture in what was called the Grand Tour. Italy was an essential stop in their formative journey in the discovery of beauty,” Capasa said.
“The heritage of Italian fashion lies not only in the excellence of what we produce but in our ability in passing down the know-how and ensure this generational continuity,” he continued. “We hope this documentary will encourage institutions to promote this model of open academies and to better narrate what lies behind this industry and how important this work can be for new generations,” he said, adding that the organization will also present bills around these topics in the coming days.
A still from the documentary, featuring Fendi’s academy.
Courtesy of CNMI
Written and directed by Alessandro Manieri under the executive production of The Blink Fish, the documentary retraces a journey across Italy, dedicating a segment to each of the academies of the brands involved. Set within these label’s production facilities and led directly by company staff to favor a hands-on immersive learning experience, the academies offer highly specialized training courses to external students, some of which share their experience in the documentary. Interviews with teachers and mentors are also featured in the film to offer different perspectives on the main theme.
While featuring academies in alphabetical order, the documentary efficiently conveys their variety as it spotlights different product categories.
A still from the documentary, featuring Brioni’s academy.
Courtesy of CNMI
Segments dedicated to Brioni’s “Scuola di Alta Sartoria Nazareno Fonticoli,” Brunello Cucinelli’s “Scuole di Alto Artigianato Contemporaneo per le Arti e i Mestieri” and Kiton’s “Scuola di Alta Sartoria” shed a light on the art of tailoring, while the closing part focused on Valentino’s “Bottega dell’Arte” in Rome offered a glimpse of the behind-the-scene making of couture creations, showing how six students per year are trained for nine months by the brand’s atelier staff and former petites mains.
In between, OTB’s “Scuola dei Mestieri” centered on product development, while Fendi’s “Istituto dei Mestieri di Eccellenza LVMH” and the “Bottega dei Mestieri” of Tod’s spotlighted the craft behind leather bags and footwear, respectively. Dolce & Gabbana’s segment highlighted its “Botteghe di Mestiere” and its more recent spin-off dedicated to jewelry- and watch-making, introduced in 2024 to complement the training project first launched in 2012.
A still from the documentary, featuring Valentino’s academy in Rome.
Courtesy of CNMI
After the private premiere event in Milan, CNMI will stage an open-to-public screening of the documentary on Sunday at the auditorium of the MAXXI museum in Rome. On April 27, the film will be presented at the Goulandris Foundation in Athens, followed by a talk that will feature Capasa as one of the speakers.
Before embarking on the international leg of the documentary’s promotion, the chairman will be busy with Milan Design Week as CNMI is enhancing its promotion of the city as a creative epicenter and fashion’s intersection with other fields. To this end, the organization has compiled a dedicated schedule highlighting the more than 50 presentations and activations fashion brands will stage during the event, which starts Monday and ends on April 26.
The poster of the “Grand Tour. Viaggio attraverso le Accademie delle Arti e dei Mestieri” documentary.
Courtesy of CNMI
