Walter Albini. The talent, the designer

With the great exhibition Walter Albini. The talent, the designer, curated by Daniela Degl'Innocenti and Enrica Morini, from 23 March to 22 September 2024 the Museo del Tessuto di Prato Foundation pays tribute to the genius of the designer and absolute pioneer of Made in Italy Walter Albini (1941-1983), just over 40 years from his untimely death. Walter Albini. The talent, the designer seeks to offer a reinterpretation of the entire professional career of an absolute protagonist of Italian fashion between the late 1960s and early 1980s, created through extensive research carried out by the curators to outline a complete and expertly documented portrait of the designer.

For the first time, the exhibition combines graphic materials – drawings, sketches, designs, photographs, fashion magazines and archival documents – with many clothes, accessories and fabrics often never seen before and never exhibited, thus allowing us to reconstruct Albini's entire creative history, from his first experiences as an illustrator and fashion designer to the last collections of the 1980s.

The project's starting point was the Walter Albini Collection of the Museo del Tessuto, acquired thanks to a large donation by Albini's collaborator Paolo Rinaldi received between 2014 and 2016: a heritage that includes over 1,700 objects including jewellery, sketches, drawings, photographs, documents, books, clothes and fabrics belonging to the designer, documenting his interests, creativity and great design ability.