Heritage Malta has launched a capsule exhibition, in collaboration with Azzopardi Studio, at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Birgu. Titled Couture and Spectacle, the new display features four couture gowns alongside a historical fashion piece from Malta’s national collection.
This evocative exhibition sparks a rare conversation between Malta’s rich textile heritage and the art of contemporary couture. Within a set design inspired by the aesthetics of theatre, visitors are invited to step into a dreamscape where historical garments and modern fashion designs converge.
At the centre of the display are four couture gowns by Azzopardi Studio, created as contemporary responses to a historical evening gown from the national textiles collection, also on exhibit. The latter, a striking blue tulle and taffeta dress – an original mid-twentieth-century piece by American designer Will Steinman – was previously owned by Mrs Peggy Mamo née Edmonson. It was generously donated by Mrs Claire Pisani née Hughes in honour of her aunt-in-law Peggy, wife of her uncle Joseph Mamo Jnr.
Conservator Claire Bonavia, Luke Azzopardi, Curators Annamaria Gatt and Kenneth Cassar and Heritage Malta CEO Noel Zammit
Couture and Spectacle repositions the dress as both artefact and performance – a legacy worn and reimagined. The exhibition challenges the traditional boundaries between historical costume and fashion as living art. Inspired by the revivalist spirit of the 1920s, the four designed gowns weave together elements of Art Deco geometry, alchemical motifs, and celestial symbolism of the tarot.
The donated dress, which formed part of Azzopardi’s collection titled On the Museum’s Ruins, 2018
As part of the collaboration, Azzopardi Studio has also donated another dress to the national collection. The dress in question formed part of Azzopardi’s collection titled On the Museum’s Ruins, exhibited at the National Museum of Archaeology’s Gran Salon in 2018, as part of a project supported by the Arts Council Malta, thus strengthening further the conceptual ties between the dress and its museological context.
While Heritage Malta remains a dedicated guardian of our cultural heritage, it is equally invested in engaging with the present. Collaborations like Couture and Spectacle offer meaningful opportunities to reflect on how our past can continue to shape and inspire both the present and the future.
The exhibition runs until the 30th of September, opening from Tuesday to Sunday from 09:00 to 17:00 (last admission at 16:30). Entrance is included in the Inquisitor’s Palace and the National Museum of Ethnography experience. Persons with impaired mobility may find access to the exhibition area challenging because of stairs. For more information visit: https://heritagemalta.mt/whats-on/couture-and-spectacle/.
