Yorkville Village is home to style, trends and haute couture. Located at the heart of Toronto’s luxury Bloor-Yorkville district, Yorkville Village pulses daily with the hottest fashion designs and elegant accessories.

This June, Yorkville Village will focus its commemoration on Italian fashion by debuting a one-of-a kind fashion event: 60 Years of Made in Italy, a travelling exhibit curated by Stile Promo Italia and Galgano & Tota Associati that will highlight six decades of Italian fashion history.

City Life speaks with Melissa Campisi, manager of strategic partnerships & event marketing at Yorkville Village, about the details of the world-travelling event.

The collaboration between Yorkville Village, the Consulate General of Italy and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura brings this rich fusion of fashion, art and culture to Toronto to celebrate our beautifully diverse city. “June is Italian Heritage month in Toronto which worked out perfectly, [and] so the stars aligned,” says Campisi. “It’s a great time to celebrate and acknowledge Italian Canadians and really all the rich cultural mosaic that we’ve made up in Toronto, just to highlight this is great. And I mean, Yorkville, Italian, fashion — it just all goes hand in hand.”

Yorkville Village in Toronto will be the first Canadian stop to display the travelling fashion exhibit, which has already been featured in Paris, Rome, Dubai, Tokyo, Moscow and other international cities around the globe.

The 60 Years of Made in Italy collection will feature garments from six decades of leading Italian fashion designers. Campisi describes some pieces that we can expect to see, noting, “we’re really going to be featuring a collection of about 50 garments, male and female garments, and we’re also going to be showcasing a collection of accessories, handbags, shoes, scarves, jewelry, pretty much everything Italy is famous for.”

The carefully selected items will be displayed in the trendy Upper and Lower Oval inside Yorkville Village and will be accessible to the public in an intimate display.

Heavy-hitter designer names such as Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Valentino, Moschino, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Etro and many others are among some of the carefully curated pieces that we can expect to see at the exhibition.

The collection will highlight the story of Italian fashion beginning in Florence in 1951 and its iconic contributions to art and culture, from red carpet designs to many other memorable events. “We thought this would be a great opportunity for people to get up close and personal with items we might have seen on the runway, or on the Oscar red carpet on celebrities,” says Campisi with genuine pride after revealing her own Italian heritage.

The undeniable impact of Italian fashion throughout the world goes without dispute and Yorkville Village does a great job at presenting “the blending of art and fashion.” This world-class curated exhibition truly stands to feature some of Italy’s top designers’ most iconic creations. Campisi reveals to us, “One of the pieces we have coming is that very famous jungle dress, which Jennifer Lopez wore in 2000 in Versace, so iconic, right?”

Yorkville Village will be setting the stage for this beautiful fusion of art and culture in Toronto from June 1 to 30, free of charge to all its guests.

Campisi adds with grace, “Yorkville Village is really the home of fashion; in addition to hosting Toronto Fashion Week twice a year, we’re really trying to position ourselves as a cultural destination and a shopping centre where there is always something to come see, do and discover on an ongoing basis.”

Truly, Yorkville Village is the destination for fashion and couture in Toronto, as Italy is fundamental to fashion in the world. When we ask Campisi to describe Italy’s contribution to fashion in just a few words, she says proudly and confidently, “Iconic and timeless.” We truly agree.

www.yorkvillevillage.com

photos by Simone Santinelli, A Gianfranco Ferré creation