WHAT’S LIFE without glamour?… Pretty boring. For some, glamour is winged eyeliner and a black plunging strapless dress, for others, glamour is an afternoon siesta on a striped sunbed, with Dean Martin crooning softly in your ear. For others, glamour transcends the physical form; it’s an attitude, a mindset, an energy that enters a room before you do, captivating strangers in a single glance. 

Italian cinema from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s played a key role in shaping universal perceptions of glamour that continue to influence popular culture today. A mingling of forces were at work: experimental directors, visionary costume designers, changing social attitudes, and of course, era-defining leading ladies Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobridiga created mythological visions of glamour that were so compelling, so alluring, that we’ve never seen anything quite like them since.