Withering Glance: Style Italiano

Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

RN: Oh, to have lived in Rome in 1947, and find this fashion label in your closet: Princess Giovanna Ginetti and Countess Barbara Angelini Desalles for Carosa. It's a heckuva lot sexier than DKNY. Far more regal, too.

CP: And oh, to have been a manor-born American heiress such as Thelma Chrysler Foy. She was a patron of those and other Italian designers showcased in a big new show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

RN: I was riveted and entertained by "Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945," and I learned so much.

CP: I have been dropping the word "sfumatura" into conversation every chance I get. As in, "that sunset is totes sfumatura." It describes a color gradation, like the pink-to-crimson shades in an evening gown by Emilio Schuberth.

RN: Speaking of words, I'm following Elizabeth Taylor's example. The exhibition's biggest eyepopper is a diamond-encrusted broach once owned by the two-time Oscar winner, accompanied by perhaps my favorite celebrity quote of all time, courtesy of Richard Burton: "The only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari."

CP: That sucker was the size of a small corsage, only made entirely from white and yellow diamonds. Liz never looked happier.

CP: One must never go yachting without one's gorgeous one-piece Fontana swimming costume, revealed only after dropping one's deck-length yellow satin coverup. La Dolce Vita meets va va va-voom.

RN: Totally. If la goddess Gardner didn't demand an I-only-wear-strapless clause in her contracts, she should have. You'll have to remember that look for the next time you swim laps at the Y.

CP: Done. The show is a great combo of couture designers who have faded into the past, and others — Fendi, Zegna, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci — who continue to keep Condé Nast magazines in business today.

RN: I love how the Italians even made the tacky 1970s palatable. I covet that fantastic Missoni cardigan, circa 1974, despite its Jimmy Carter earth tones. And would that I could get my hands on that fabulous 1978 Fiorucci shopping bag.

CP: I think they should have scratched menswear from the exhibit altogether — it's an underbaked afterthought.

CP: Oh, and all those black-painted walls?

RN: They don't exactly telegraph "sun-dappled Italy," do they?

CP: You can have the furs and glamorous gowns.

RN: Done, and done.

CP: For my money, the show's killingest outfit was a recent Miu Miu creation — a short wool coat with an allover cockatoo print, a perfect silk-crepe dress, purple tights and to-die-for patent-leather platform shoes. It can get quite cool in Milan this time of year.