Abstract
We analyse the emergence of Italy as a fashion country with a reconstruction of the history and impact of the collective fashion shows that Giovanni Battista Giorgini organised in Florence in 1951–1965. Our cultural analysis highlights the role events play in the mobilisation of local actors and the creation of nation brands, which we conceive as ongoing narrations built on a country’s material and symbolic resources that differentiate its image in valuable ways for export markets. Despite their decline, the Florentine shows created an intangible asset that facilitated the ascent of Milan as Italy’s fashion capital in the 1970s.