Swirls of Fabric | Superbarocco + Scarves

Baroque painting has always spoken to me. It’s lush, maximalist, it’s decadently rich with color and movement.

Me and the Baroque also “have history” together. When I studied at Mount Holyoke, my introduction to the world of Art History was through the Baroque & Rococo course taught by Prof. Variano. This inspired my major and later my thesis on a Caravaggio painting. For the branding of the Rome Design Agency, I included a nod to Baroque embellishments in the logo. In my line of scarves – yes, you’ve guessed it – there’s a Rococo series based on this aesthetic ornamentation.

So, it’s no surprise that the exhibition SuperBaracco at Scuderie del Quirinale was on my radar to visit.

Walking into the first room of the exhibition, the viewer is immediately struck by the immense scale of these works. They’re larger than life in size, with paint hues so saturated they sink into the deepest of blacks and the most radiants of white. Angels stacked upon each other look across the room to scenes of myth. A corner turned and suddenly you experience genre paintings of peasants with fruit and fresh. In each painting a new world of light and darkness, chiaroscuro, is created.

I found myself gravitating to some ornate works in gold. Namely, a frame with details so extravagant I simply had to capture a picture (or, well, ten).

However, what I honed in on and loved most was the play of fabrics as decorative element in these painitngs. The way the artists portrayed silk, from flitting and fluttering, to the heavy drapes of the velvet. It was completely rich. Then, my aha! moment. This Baroque styling was exactly how I wanted my own scarves to be portrayed on film! I desired the heightened sense of drama and movement the artists captured in these paintings.

Immediately following the exhibition, my Studio team and I emerged into the golden hour light in the piazza. The sun had begun its decent but the sky remained a bright, clear blue as we began our set up. With a heavy breeze – bordering on wind – we captured Art-as-Scarf as I had envisioned: enthroned in light and movement, as if fluttering out one of the Baroque paintings.