Sanremo Fashion: When Costume Met Couture

Between the 1970s and 1990s, Sanremo’s costumes were meant for (moderate) shock and awe

As much as Sanremo is Italy’s most eminent music festival, the event is hardly just a music show: the songs are just one component of a variety-style tv show known for its hosts, performers, comic interludes, and the endless stream of discourse that arises after each night. Needless to say, fashion has become the subject of discussion just as much as the songs. 

In the current era, costumes exist to make a singer’s performance go viral on social media: think of Achille Lauro’s glam-rock unitards in 2020, of Paola and Chiara’s 2022 metal-corset-adorned chainmail-like gowns (from Dolce and Gabbana’s 2007 collection) and of this year’s BigMama, outfitted like a 1920s Cabaret performer, or Mahmood, looking like a futuristic reinterpretation of a Greek statue thanks to Rick Owens’s draped tunic.

When it comes to the female co-hosts, the gowns they wear are just a showcase of a designer’s couture collection, and they tend to safely play with red-carpet-ready tropes (ball gown, mermaid gowns,…