The city and its protagonists

Faciteme felice! – 1905 (posthumous publication)

‘Ngiulì! Ngiulì! – 1902

‘O core d’ ’e ffigliole! – 1901

At the end of the nineteenth century, Naples was crossed by new lifestyles, tastes, and consumption habits. Urban clothing progressively moved away from the distinctive features of traditional dress: suits, jackets, and ties defined the male figure, while women’s dresses followed silhouettes and styles updated to the fashion of the time.

The Grandi Magazzini Mele, opened in Naples in 1889, were an expression of this transformation: fashion entered the realm of modern commerce and targeted an increasingly broad city public.

The copielle and sheet music of Vincenzo Russo bring to life the protagonists of this new urban reality: a city where clothing no longer merely tells of belonging to a tradition, but also becomes an expression of taste, status, and aspiration toward modernity.