Dolomites Skirama: The Mountain Style of the Italian Woman, 1922-1945

On view:
November 20, 2025 – March 13, 2026
Mon-Fri 10-6

Opening Reception:
Thursday, November 20, 2025, 6-8pm
Curators talk at 6:45pm

Curated by:
Grazia d’Annunzio, Elena Pala, Emanuela Scarpellini
(Università degli Studi di Milano)

The Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be taking place in Milan and Cortina in 2026. In the meantime, you are cordially invited to Dolomites Skirama: The Mountain Style of the Italian Woman, 1922-1945, an exhibit that shines a light upon the style of Italian women between the 1920s and the 1940s. The set is the winter backdrop of the Dolomites, and the sports tourism in the Tofane, Cristallo, and Sorapiss mountain ranges, which began to be en vogue under the dictatorship of Mussolini.

While there were many female role models in Italy during fascism, the exhibit focuses on the bourgeois woman who could afford to keep up with fashion, learn about new trends, buy glossy magazine, and play sports. A woman that was often portrayed in the so-called “white telephone” movies.

Curated by Grazia d’Annunzio, Elena Pala, and Emanuela Scarpellini (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy) and organized by the Centro Studi Rsi (Salò, Italy) in collaboration with MIC-Moda Immagine e Consumi Center of the University of Milan and the Fondazione Casa di Oriani in Ravenna (Italy), the exhibit is part of the Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics, a multidisciplinary, pluralistic and widespread program that will enliven Italy to promote Olympic values through culture, heritage and sport, ahead of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will take place respectively from February 6th to 22nd and from March 6th to 15th , 2026.