Italian Studies Professor Tailors Lessons to Her Country鈥檚 Stylish History
03/01/2025
By Ed Brennen
Growing up in Modena, Italy, a city known for its rich balsamic vinegar and Maserati and Ferrari sports cars, Giulia Po DeLisle remembers strolling past the storefronts of some of the world鈥檚 most luxurious Italian fashion houses: Armani, Gucci, Prada, Versace.
鈥淚 was surrounded by beauty and fashion,鈥� says Po DeLisle, an associate professor of Italian studies in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences since 2010. 鈥淭he fashion names were unattainable, but it鈥檚 there for you to see in the windows鈥攖o dream and to see yourself dressed in a certain way.鈥�
In 2022, Po DeLisle received a small grant from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to create new content for her Advanced Italian Grammar course, which promotes the country鈥檚 language and culture. Since that year was also the 70th anniversary of Italy鈥檚 first fashion show (held in the Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti in Florence in 1952), she tailored the syllabus to examine fashion and design, through Italian film and literature, from the postwar period to the 21st century.
鈥淵ou may think grammar has nothing to do with fashion, but the way we teach languages, it鈥檚 really to connect and put the grammar in certain contexts,鈥� she says. 鈥淔ashion is something that we always see, and I try to find ways to connect it in every level that we teach. I think the students enjoy it. Fashion speaks to them.鈥�
Besides reading short stories by Clara Sereni and watching documentaries like Michelangelo Antonioni鈥檚 鈥淪even Reeds, One Suit鈥� and Ottavio Rosati's 鈥淭he Forbidden Fashion,鈥� Po DeLisle鈥檚 students learn about contemporary topics such as women鈥檚 labor and sustainability.
鈥淚 try to find connections with society, and I think the students respond to that. They learn what is good and what is bad about this industry of fashion,鈥� she says.
Fashion became an academic pursuit for Po DeLisle while she was getting a Ph.D. in comparative literature from City University of New York. Studying under renowned fashion scholar Eugenia Paulicelli, Po DeLisle helped translate a book that Paulicelli wrote on Rosa Genoni, who is considered Italy鈥檚 first lady of fashion.
Po DeLisle and Paulicelli have since organized conferences on fashion, film and sustainability in Rome and Bologna and recently curated a special issue on 鈥淔ilm, Fashion, Costume in Italy and Beyond,鈥� for the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies.
鈥淪he opened up this world to me from a theoretical perspective,鈥� Po DeLisle says of Paulicelli. 鈥淵ou see the world that is behind what you see in a window display or on a catwalk.鈥�