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Erupting with Elegance: The Volcanic Influence on High Fashion
- Ellen Cassidy
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
A crucial component when developing an understanding of high fashion involves crafting drama through clothing, where the experience is just as important as the garments themselves. Runway fashion enables an indulgence in theatricality, allowing for the storytelling to take centre stage. Much like a volcanic eruption, runway shows harness an overwhelming force of energy and emotion, capturing audiences with so much more than just garments.
'Fausto Puglisi offered a grand tour of Pompeii in his latest collection for Roberto Cavalli presented Thursday during Milan Fashion Week' (Independent.co.uk). Robert Cavalli’s signature maximalism allowed for Fausto Puglisi to take on this theatricality, crucial to the success of a collection during Milan Fashion Week, whilst also contending with his chosen volcanic backdrop for the collection.
Puglisi’s collection transformed the natural disaster of Pompeii into a work of art. Whilst we can question whether the destruction caused by such an event should be replicated, the art which is curated after an event also keeps its memory alive. The collection was praised for it’s 'unparalleled skill in storytelling through fashion, where each garment told a part of the larger narrative of destruction, renewal, and the beauty found in nature’s forces.'
'The opening look of fiery devore velvet giving way to silver and gold beautifully represented the damage wrought by Vesuvius when it rained volcanic ash on the ancient city in 79 AD' (Indpendent.co.uk).
Pulglisi described Pompeii as a 'magical place, and an extremely modern one' (Yahoo Life), as per Samantha Conti’s WWD review of the collection. This broadens the conversation in regards to the recreation of an event through fashion. Fausto Puglisi drew inspiration from Pompeii, the ancient Italian city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, after falling in love with it during his first visit as a child. This season, the Pompeii palette dominated his collection, with 'rich reds and grays featured in velvet devoré slipdresses and coats adorned with lava-hot colors and faux leopard edging'. His designs also included silky off-shoulder tunics and velvet minidresses. The texture of volcanoes also played a significant role in the collection, as the igneous rock that forms volcanoes influenced the fabric choices. The use of leather and silk in the designs mirrored the characteristics of a volcano, with leather representing the rock and silk reflecting the flowing lava. 'Being a print and texture obsessive, he had a lot to work with in Pompeii, from lava flows to frescoes to its native flora and fauna'.
To characterise volcanic inspired fashion, it is undoubtedly intense, dramatic, and transformative. Volcanoes, like fashion, are a combination of beauty and destruction, powerful and beautiful to witness whilst being an overwhelming force. Volcanoes embody the raw, untamed power of the natural world, and fashion harnesses that same energy, channeling it into designs that evoke both strength and beauty. By focusing on the volcanic, designers create a captivating explosion of creativity, blending colors, textures, and history with modernity. The volcanic landscape provides a rich backdrop for diverse collections, drawing inspiration from the earth’s rock formations and the inherently theatrical eruption of nature itself. In this way, fashion becomes a reflection of nature’s profound energy, harnessing its force to create something both visually stunning and symbolically powerful.
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