DAPHNÉ MUSEUM

Here is Sanremo’s DAPHNÉ Museum of Fashion and Perfume, one of the most important “treasure chests” of the fashion world. Founded by Renzo Borsotto under the auspices of the homonymous Liguria fashion house, it is housed in a building which dates back to 1200, in the heart of Sanremo, just a few steps from the Casino. The foundations of this beautiful building date back to the Roman period.

In the nineteenth century it belonged to the Dukes of Galliera and today its rooms display unique antique and contemporary clothing collections, with coordinated accessories and perfume bottles from different ages. The sequence of adjoining halls, with frescoed ceilings and antique floors, is a work of art that alone is worth the trip. The museum’s heritage consists of about two thousand objects. The rarest of which belong to the eighteenth century and were donated by atelier customers who expressly desired that they should not be dispersed and that they should find a new life here. Among the most curious ones, there is an embroidered parasol which belonged to Queen Margaret; an evening gown and a red cape worn by Grace Kelly, who often used to attend the Maison and three dresses belonging to Maria Brignole Sale, Duchess of Galliera.

But the richest collection of clothes and perfumes is linked to Russia: many of the objects belonged to Princess Oboleskaya, a lady-in-waiting of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of Czar Alexander II of Russia, who stayed in Sanremo. Monica and Barbara Borsotto, the current artistic directors of the DAPHNÉ Atelier of Haute Couture, confirm that the new fashion collections and accessories increasingly recall the history and styles from the past, from which they draw inspiration.

Fashion is cyclical, the present always refers to the past and, in this sense, the pieces of the DAPHNÉ Museum of Fashion and Perfume of Sanremo can only represent an asset for the entire community.