Style is Everything

Mischievously – or at least so his interlocutor perceived it – Romain de Tirtoff explained his nom de plume to Franco Maria Ricci when they first met: “No one will ever forget Erté.” Erté, of course, is a monogram, RT, just like YSL and FMR. Ricci had stumbled across that unfamiliar signature as he wandered through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as he later wrote after the artist’s death in a tribute to him that we republish here. From 1970 on, a great many readers discovered Erté through the exquisite volume printed on blue paper and bound in black silk published by Ricci; the text – entitled À la lettre (To the Letter) – was by Roland Barthes. In the spring and summer of 2026, visitors to the Masone Labyrinth will be able to rediscover Erté as they explore the exhibition Lo stile è tutto (Style Is Everything, a title taken from an interview with Diana Vreeland), curated by Valerio Terraroli. The texts that follow frame the figure of Romain de Tirtoff, who greatly contributed to Art Deco’s popularity on both sides of the Atlantic.