Tickets Now on Sale for Exclusive Italian Fashion Exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland (September 30, 2025)—Fashion, in all its changes, is a continuous thread that reveals history’s complexities and addresses ideas that transcend time from the past into the present, materializing contemporary beauty. Through this lens, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) examines more than 100 modern and contemporary Italian fashions and accessories in dialogue with Italian fine, decorative, and textile arts from the 1400s to the early 1600s in its newest exhibition, Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses.  

Tickets for this highly anticipated exhibition are now on sale for members and go on sale on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, for nonmembers. The CMA recommends reserving tickets through its online platform by visiting the Renaissance to Runway exhibition webpage. Tickets can also be reserved by phone at 216-421-7350 or on-site at one of the ticket desks. 

Using various mediums, the exhibition explores the inspirations of historical Italian art and culture, from the creative engine of textile design and fine artistic production to the dress and even broader cultural histories that have informed the periods of 20th and 21st century Italian fashion. Through such cultural preservation, the exhibition delineates how Italian fashion designers and houses in the past century have used Italian heritage as the basis of creative innovation, emanating the particular flair and aura that only Italian fashion can.  

Artworks from the CMA’s collection made between the Italian Renaissance and Early Baroque periods are paired with a range of couture, or alta moda, fashions and accessories, conveying the period’s cultural preservation and influence. 

“More than 500 years ago, families, or “houses,” who ruled the states across the Italian peninsula, such as the Medici of Florence and the Sforza of Milan, used fashion as a form of power and influence, from dictating fashionable styles that were immortalized through painted portraits to controlling textile production as a form of currency,” said Darnell-Jamal Lisby, associate curator of fashion. “Conversely, since the turn of the 1900s, rising Italian fashion organizations, also called “houses,” have been founded by prolific individuals and families who dominate global style with unmatched design craftsmanship, quality fabrics, and enthralling aesthetics.” 

Presenting approximately 80 ensembles and garments and 40 jewelry pieces by a range of storied houses, such as Fortuny, Pucci, Gucci, Armani, Buccellati, Bvlgari, Ferragamo, Versace, Valentino, and more, this show celebrates the vibrant intersection where the past and present lexicons of Italian creative ingenuity meet. 

“It is my hope that visitors recognize how fashion is a conduit for understanding respective cultures across time and can be a dynamic conduit for understanding other mediums, such as painting, sculpture, textiles, and decorative arts,” continued Lisby. “Renaissance to Runway brings to life this connection and the incredible artistic ingenuity of the Italian fashion houses that has continuously captured the world’s heart and imagination.” 

Accompanying the exhibition is a richly illustrated, 200-page catalogue, art directed by former 30-year Vogue Italia artistic director, Luca Stoppini, written by the exhibition’s curator, Darnell-Jamal Lisby, and with contributions by Dr. Matteo Augello, curator, lecturer, and author of Curating Italian Fashion; Alessandra Arezzi Boza, archivist, curator, and founder of Studio AAB; Massimiliano Capella, director of the house museum of the Paolo and Carolina Zani Foundation for Art and Culture; Luke Meagher (@HautLeMode), fashion critic and social media influencer; and Stefania Ricci, director of the Ferragmo Museum. Additionally, the exhibition includes a digital film produced by internationally celebrated creative director Francesco Carrozzini and globally renowned artist Henry Hargreaves, offering their take on the exhibition’s subject. Altogether, Renaissance to Runway is an amalgamation of the expansive dynamism and commemoration of Italian innovation.  

Members are invited to see the exhibition on November 7 and 8, 2025, ahead of the official public opening as well as during MIX: Renaissance to Revolution on November 7, 6:00–10:00 p.m. MIX is a recurring event series at the CMA featuring art, music, and cocktails that highlights a different theme or aspect of the collection each month. November’s eventF is themed around another Renaissance—the disco-and-house realm of Beyoncé’s Renaissance. Throughout the evening, you can “Virgo’s Groove” to the musings of DJ Lily Jade and DJ Black Unicorn, who spin sets of music featuring and inspired by Mrs. Carter’s discography. Enjoy themed food and drink items, including Italian-inspired cuisine, cocktails, beer, and wine for purchase from Bon Appétit. 

The general public is welcome to view this exhibition from November 9, 2025, through February 1, 2026, in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall at the CMA. Advanced ticket purchase is encouraged for this highly anticipated exhibition. 

This exhibition is presented by the John P. Murphy Foundation.  

Major support is provided by Courtney and Michael Novak. Generous support is provided by Sandra and the late Richey Smith and the Carol Yelling Family Fund. 

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art 

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the foremost encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and is free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station. 

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.