The fashion historian Bonizza Giordani Aragno writes: “We can define the fashion sketch (figurino) as an imaginary line which separates the design of a dress from its execution: at the back of the line are the great designers, beyond the great artisans. Division, of course, is not always possible, or legitimate, because the different moments, the different gestures of the profession often overlap.

“However, it is certain that the Fontana Sisters, daughters of the great Italian tailoring tradition, practiced a very high level of craftsmanship. The dress is in fact first created on the mannequin, then draped on the mannequin, and finally worn by the customer. It is a method essentially entrusted to the ‘touch’, while the sketch is used to fix, to document in detail the construction of the model; it is, above all, a precious multi-handed note.”

Whether it comes before the creation of the garment for some, or accompanies it, as in the case of Zoe, Giovanna and Micol Fontana, the sketch is a fundamental step in the process of creating and studying the dress.

If today fashion designs inevitably resort to computer graphics, in the ’50s and ’60s they were made by hand, unique works for which the most different techniques were used to manage to render lines, cuts, fabrics, and, of course, colors.

From pencil to watercolor, from acrylic colors to, in some cases, oil color, the sketches of the Micol Fontana Foundation are real works of art at the service of fashion. On some, fabric samples are also applied, on others, particular pencil sketches are drawn that are not reproduced in the main drawing, such as a neckline on the back.