Egon Von Furstenberg

Egon Von Furstenberg was born in Lausanne, the son of a German family of antique and noble origins. As a young man he lived travelling between Italy, Austria and the United States, which he considers his second home. He went to school and university in Switzerland where he obtained a degree in Economics. Destined to a brilliant career at New York's Chase Manhattan Bank, Egon decided instead to dedicate himself to his great passion for fashion and design.

So he applied and became a student of the Parson's School of Design and at the same workeds at the Macy's department store. In 1975 on showed his first line of pullovers and men's shirts. Thus the Egon von Furstenberg label was born. The company Egon von Furstenberg s.r.l. began its business in 1977 in the United States and in 1983 in Italy. The designer's creative consultancy focused at a variety of trading licences dealing in the production and distribution of products for different target and market segments. The Egon von Fustenberg label, thanks to the designer's rich creativity, is today present the world over.

Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace's interpretation of fashion is original, somewhat exhibitionist and brightly coloured. He believed art and fashion go together and has been described by Time magazine as the youngest of Milan's "young tyrants". Born in Reggio Calabria on December 2, 1946, Versace started working in his mother's atelier at the age of eighteen. He often travelled to London and Paris on pattern buying missions and was quick to learn the secrets of dressmaking and design. 1972 marked a turning point in his life. He was called to work for the Florentine Flowers clothing factory of Lucca. By the following year he was working as a ready-to-wear designer for Genny and Callaghan. In 1974 Versace conceived, designed, and helped to launch the Complice label.

A few years later, in March 1978, encouraged by his success Versace presented his first signature collection for women at the Palazzo della Permanente Art Museum of Milan. His first menwear collection followed in September of the same year.

Versace liked to consider himself a tailor, rather than a designer. He knew how to cut and sew the clothes he made. He tried on the men's collections personally and had his sister Donatella try on the female ones. He paid careful attention to the male and female body. The Versace look of the young, aggressive and sexy woman is well-known. He liked to create sexy clothes for his women, skin-tight with low cuts and high slits on the skirts. Versace was among the first to revive the cat suit, to bring back the mini skirt, to show tights worn as trousers, to bring the bustier out at night and bead it. In 1982 his dreses made with fine metal mesh first appeared and were a hit.

One of the first Italian designers to hire world-class photographers such as Richard Avedon to photograph his advertising campaigns, Versace paid special attention to promoting his name's image, also using the top fashion models for these ads. The same models strutted the runway during his fashion shows, and he was the first to use dramatic kleig lighting instead of the traditional overhead lights. This flattered both models and clothes.

Versace has been referred to as the rock-and-roll designer and clients include Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, George Michael, Eric Clapton, Elton John and Michael Jackson. He has also made clothes for the Princess of Wales and Caroline of Monaco. In 1982, Versace opened a new chapter in his career, making costumes for the theatre, opera and ballet. He began a close collaboration with choreographer Maurice Bejart. He went on to design accessories, jewellery, furnishings, and china.

Versace reported gross income for 1996 as 1,705 billion lire (exchange rate approximately $1=1600 lire) for the entire group. There are 138 Gianni Versace boutiques in the world, and 345 sales points. Versus, the younger line, has 550 boutiques, and Istante, the less costly line, has 17 boutiques and 330 sales points.

Gianni Versace was assasinated in front of his home on South Ocean Drive in Miami Beach on July 15, 1997. His sister, Donatella, who worked with him for years, took over as chief designer for the company. Her first collections have met with considerable success, both from fashion editors and clients. For the moment, plans to offer Versace stock on the New York exchange have been postponed.

Valentino

His "V" logo is famous all over the world. Women such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Farah Diba and Elizabeth Taylor have worn his exquisite creations. Valentino Garavani was born in Voghera, north of Milan on May 11, 1932. While attending high school he shows a precocious artistic temperament and soon becomes interested in fashion. He takes courses in fashion design and studies French to prepare himself to move to Paris. He is 17 years old when he arrives in the then world capital of fashion and couture.After a few years' apprenticeship in the Fashion Houses of Jean Desses and Guy Laroche, Valentino returns to Rome at the beginning of the 60s to open his own atelier in Via Condotti. Those are the years of the Dolce Vita and many Hollywood stars who come throgh Rome discover Valentino and determine his quick fame.

Valentino's international debut takes place in 1962 in Florence, the Italian fashion capital of the time. His first show at the Pitti Palace is welcomed as a true revelation and the young couturier is submerged by orders from foreign buyers and enthusiastic comments on the press.

At the end of the 1960s Valentino meets Giancarlo Giammetti, an architecture student who abandons the university to become his business partner. Giammetti's entrepreneurial genius will prove fundamental to the worldwide expansion and success of the House.

Valentino's White Collection in 1967 in which the winning "V" first appears, and turns him into an unsurpassed king of fashion. The lace mini-dress he designed for Jacqueline Kennedy's marriage to Aristotle Onassis made the covers of magazines around the world. By 1972 he has already launched his women's and men's ready-to-wear collections and has opened his first boutiques in Rome and Milan. Oliver (for his beloved dog) is the name he gives to his younger line. In the years to come Valentino extends the range of products bearing his signature by turning his ideas and designs to various sectors of attire (neckties, shirts, accessories, jeans) and interior decoration (textiles, tiles, furniture, wallpaper). In 1978 he launches his own perfume during a gala in Paris, where guest star Mikhail Baryshnikov dances Tchaikowski's La Dame de Pique at the Theatre des Champs Elysees.

Valentino's expansion continues with a chain of boutiques in the USA and Japan. 1989 marks the opening of the Academia Valentino, a cultural space located near his atelier in Rome, for the presentation of art exhbitions. The year later, encouraged by their friend Elizabeth Taylor, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti create L.I.F.E., anssociation for the support of AIDS related patients, which benefits from the activities of the Accademia Valentino.

Trussardi

The Trussardi story began in 1910 when Dante Trussardi, master glove-maker, set up his company in Bergamo, creating finely made gloves which were soon successfully all over the world.

Nicola Trussardi, Dante's nephew, after graduating with a degree in economics, took over the company from his father and uncle in 1970.

Taking full advantage of the company's experience in doing detailed work with leather, he decided to diversify the company production and move forward to keep up with the evolving consumer market.

The first step was for Trussardi to have its own tannery and Nicola Trussardi took the necessary steps. With the help of an expert technical staff they studied new and sophisticated procedures for treating and refining leather.

By 1973 Trussardi was ready to launch a series of products with his name and to add a trademark to his name. Looking for something original which conveys an idea of his product he chose the greyhound: a purebred dog which has always been tied to the history of painting, fast and delicate at the same time, refined, with an elegant carriage - a symbol of dynamism.

With the label defined, Trussardi began to produce bags, suitcases, and small leather goods. Taking advantage of the developments in tannery a much softer leather was used for many items, softer and more supple than the traditional ones used.

The immediate success of the first collection led to the enlargement of the product range from the original sector. First a series of accessories was completed including suitcases, belts, shoes, umbrellas, foulards, and ties. The next step was ready-to-wear, specializing in leather garments.

In 1976 the first Trussardi shop was opened in Milan. Today the network of shops in Italy and abroad includes 183 boutiques. Five belong to Trussardi and 178 are in franchising or affiliates.

In 1983, for the first time, Trussardi presented a womans ready-to-wear collection during the twice-yearly Milano Colezioni shows, at the legendary Teatro alla Scala, a first for Milan. In succeeding years Trussardi presented his shows in some of Milan's most renowned locations, including in front of the Duomo, the main cathedral. The Trussardi look is classic but innovative, with generous use of the finest fabrics.

Trussardi has undertaken many other initiatives, including the creation of the Palatrussardi on the outskirts of Milan, which has hosted a number of pop and rock concerts, including that of Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, and Sammy Davis, Jr. Other projects included a specially fitted-out Mini, produced by Innocenti, which Nicola Trussardi still drives today.

Mila Schön

Maria Carmen Nustrizio Schön was born in Dalmatia. After moving to Milan and well into her thirties, she decides to enter the world of high fashion. All she knew about it until then was that she enjoyed wearing the dresses which she was used to buying in Paris.

This charming and elegant lady of aristocratic origins had no cutting or sewing experience but with a small group of able workers she set up a workshop in Milan in 1958. The first soberly cut coats and dresses were produced and their refined touch was not missed by the elegant Milanese women.

In January 1965, at the invitation of Giovan Battista Giorgini, Mila Schön presents her first collection at Florence's Palazzo Pitti. A year later she opens her Milan boutique on Via Montenapoleone in an antique palazzo, once the residence of the Italian poet Carlo Porta.

The future holds international recognition in store for her and the Florence show is only the first in a series of successes. The enthusiasm of a buyer from the fabled department store Neiman Marcus takes her to the United States where she presented her collections in Houston and Dallas and is awarded the Fashion Oscar for Color in 1967. At the end of the decade, Mila Schön is offering dresses which were compared to works of art such as those by Josef Albers, Calder and Fontana.

Her evening gowns take on a growing importance in her successive collections. They include some embroidered in white and silver, those with Gobelin motifs, and those of Persian inspiration.

In 1971 Mila Schön launches her men's line and the same year sees the birth of the women ready-to-wear collections. This latter line has a wider public in mind but no less demanding. And before the end of the decade the men's ready-to wear collections will also be launched.

In January 1990 Mila Schön is celebrating her 50th high fashion show with a collection whose prints are inspired to the world of William Morris. A couple of years later a new line of accessories is launched, including handbags, foulards and shoes.

Mila Schön's career has led her to create uniforms for airline staff: Alitalia in 1969 and Iran Air in 1972. She has also produced uniforms for the Milan soccer team and designed the clothes worn by the Italian national team at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Today the Mila Schön Group has become an empire with boutiques not only in major Italian cities such as Milan, Florence and Rome, but all over the world. Extremely selective standards have been adopted for foreign markets where the Mila Schön label is widely distributed.

Sarli

Fausto Sarli is one of the prestigious names of Rome's high fashion trade. His pret-a-porter collection is found throughout the world strengthening the presige and fame of this designer who excels in two fundamental aspects of fashion and elegance: creativity and practicality.

Sarli abandoned his business studies course at a young age and decided to dedicate himself to high fashion. He gained experience in the world of fashion at successful houses such as Schubert and De Luca.

In 1957 he was proclaimed the winner of a young talents competition by a jury of fashion designers made up of Schubert, Capucci, Marucelli, veneziani, and Simonetta. That same year he presented his first collection at Florence's Palazzo Pitti.

The following year Sarli set up his own atelier in Naples, the city where he was born. Encourged by the success in his home town, he decided to open a second atelier in Rome's Via Veneto in 1959. Those were the years of the "Dolce Vita" and Sarli's collections were enthusiastically received wherever they were presented. The perfection of his cut and his original styles won over both journalists and customers alike. The world's most demanding and famous women wanted to wear Sarli designs. Shy and modest by nature, Sarli did not let his success affect him; he shunned cult status and carried on scrupulously and diligently with his work.

Soon he opened up to foreign markets. In 1965, Sarli was invited to visit Canada and the United Ssates where he was welcomed with great enthusiasm and five years later he conquered the Japanese market.

Sarli follows every collection through its various phases of creation as a team of dressmakers, modellers and cutters works on his models following the traditional fashion school rules. His models represent nothing less than an exercise in sartorial style and skill which is the result of true dedication and continous research.

In 1980 Sarli began a new creative season with his "Studio" collections in which he furthered his stylistic research. In 1984 he launched the Sarli pret a porter collection. Different requirements and methods are the inspiration behind his pret a porter collections which are studied in every detail, cut, line, and are at the same time both comfortable and practical.

Sarli has received a number of prizes in his career. Among these is the "Golden Lion", a prize that had only previously been awarded to Valentino Garavani and Milan Schon, and which he won in 1987.

Over the past years, Sarli created an eyeglasses collection an eau de toilette, and accessories for the men's collection. His ties and vests were an immediate hit.

Emilio Pucci

The aristocratic Marchese, the fighter-pilot-war-hero-turned fashion-designer-turned politician is no more, but the legendary status symbol he created lives on. There was a time (before the price of gold was freed) when a Pucci printed silk jersey dress cost more by weight than gold, and no fashionable jet-setter boarded a plane without at least one packed in her luggaage. In the sixties Pucci-Gucci led the way for all the brand names proudly displayed that followed, but many people are not aware that Pucci did as much as Mary Quant for women in helping to free them from their rigid underpinnings.

Marchese Emilio Pucci grew up in Palazzo Pucci on Via dei Pucci and after the war attended the University of Seattle. In 1947 a fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar, Toni Frisell, took a photograph of the handsome aristocrat as he was skiing on the slopes of St. Moritz, and when the editors of the magazine printed that he had designed the sleek skiwear he was wearing himself, inquiries from interested stores poured in. Inspired by the bright flags used during the Palio in nearby Siena, Pucci designed unmistakable prints using combinations of bright and pastel colors and geometric shapes on silk jersey, a fashioned them into dresses that flattered the female figure. The dresses were light and versatile, and the international nomads who started jet-setting in the early sixties found that they could pack a lot of outfits by Pucci in just one suitcase.

Pretty soon Pucci prints appeared everywhere, on shoes, purses, luggage, billfolds, bathing suits, nightgowns, and bras and bikini underpants. Pucci even produced perfumed stationery. When Braniff invited him to design uniforms for their flight attendants he invented an original approach that included a plastic helmet to preserve the women's hairdos, and bookings on Braniff shot up. The Apollo 15 crew carried a Pucci-designed flag to the moon.

In the seventies Pucci was elected to the Italian parliament, and he also began labeling and selling the wine produced on his estate in Chianti, owned by the Pucci family since the 13th century.

Prada

Prada had a reputation as a company that made high-quality leather goods and various fashion accessories and sold them in their store in Milan. So when suddenly one day the name "Prada" became synonomous with "Hot" and "Must-have-fashion" it was not surprising that the solid reputation for attention to detail and quality meant the company was able to take advantage of the sudden attention thrust upon it.

Moschino

Franco Moschino, who died in 1994 aged fortythree, was a man who eluded any limitating definition - including (and maye above all), that of "fashion designer". Instead, he who built a fashion empire worth 210 billion Italian lira, was well known for his scathing remarks on fashion designers, fashion shows and fashion itself.

Moschino's yearly advertising campaigns were always accompanied by challenging and often impudent slogans like: "Warning: fashion shows can be dangerous to your health", "Life is many attitudes, so is fashion", and "Good taste doesn't exist". Provocation became his trademark, but also his way of telling people not to become victims of fashion, not to forego their individuality, not to let themselves be manipulated by what he called the evil media, and above all, not to forget the really important issues in life. Coherent was his personal commitment to ecology and to human and animal rights, which he expressed in his designs, in the choice of his materials and in his ad campaigns. The fact that his clothes were extremely well made by the AEFFE factory near Forli` didn't hurt, either. Moschino declared that he donated much of his income to charity organisations.

Artistic and iconoclastic from childhood, Franco Moschino happened upon fashion almost by chance: an odd-job man without a formal education, he became an illustrator for Gianni Versace until he broke away and in 1983 launched his own label. He started off with jeans and casual wear which was quickly followed by shoes, lingerie, highly original eveningwear, and ultimately a perfume. He is invariably described as an inventor and a "mad hat" but his perfect mastery of the classic rules of "cutting and stitching" are the base for all his creations which come to life with a strong touch of irony and a sharp sense of humour.

Fried eggs or plastic windmills are the buttons on his classic blazers, furry teddy-bears huddle together to make up a winter hat, golden safety pins adorn a sexy strapless evening top: his creations are recognisable at first glance. Among his most popular garments and accessories there are brightly printed waist-coats, rigid handbags (like the one favoured by Madonna), an incredible range of T-shirts, polka dot "Minnie Mouse" dresses and richly decorated black satin evening dresses.

The man who hated myths and taking oneself and one's clothing too seriously is sadly missed in the highbrow world of Italian fashion, but his trademark lives on and is much appreciated especially by the young, the original, and the young at heart.

Missoni

Missoni represents a unique style in ready-to-wear knit classics. What started off as a tiny workshop belonging to a newly-wed couple has become the leading trend-setter for knitwear in the world. Rosita Jelmini was born in 1932 near Varese, the daughter of a mill owner, and studied languages. She was sent to London to improve her English. Ottavio (known to everyody as Tai) was born in 1921 in Dalmatia and brought up in Trieste. In the late 1940s he was producing track suits with a friend to be worn by the Italian national team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Rosita who had gone to watch the games saw Tai run as a finalist in the 400 meters obstacle course and decided that he would become her husband. Five years later they were married and had set up a small workshop in order to make a living. They soon moved on to knitwear from track suits.

Their first big break came in 1964 when they met designer Emmanuelle Kahn and decided to make a knitwear collection together which they showed in Milan two years later; then in 1967 came their second break, when they presented their collection at Palazzo Pitti. They became world-famous, or, rather, infamous, because Rosita, making a last-minute decision, told the models to take off their bras because they ruined the lines of the black silk jersey dresses they were to model on the catwalk. Missoni didn't realize that under Pitti's blazing lights the tops of the dresses would become transparent, the fashion world was shocked, and they made headlines around the world.

Ottavio and Rosita like to be called artisans because they developed their business by dreaming up colourful designs, mostly influenced by folk art. First they started with stripes, the easiest design which could be made with the ch. Today Missoni employs around 200 people at their Sumirago headquarters in the province of Varese. They use up to twenty different fabrics, including wool, cotton, linen, rayon and silk and some 40 different colours for each of their collections. Their clothes range from sweaters to skirts, dresses and jackets. Ottavio Missoni has also diversified from clothes to tapestries and carpets. In spite of their rapid expansion and their growing international sales, the Missonis have kept their traditional ideas and maintained quality an important priority. Ottavio and Rosita have three children who have all joined the family busines. With advent of computer technology who knows what the younger Missoni generation has in store for the future...

Max Mara

Max Mara is the best-known name of a number of lines produced by the Maramotti family which include Sportmax, Weekend (lower priced with less expensive fabrics), I Blues (separates), Penny Black and Marella (lower priced), Pianoforte (evening clothes), Max and Co, and Marina Rinaldi (for larger sized women). It is one of the largest if not the largest manufacturers of women's clothes in Italy. (An article in the International Herald Tribune dated February 27, 1990, gave the figures of 16 different labels, 300 stores, and a turnover in 1989 at wholesale prices of 544 million dollars.) By 2002, according to Italian financial newspaper Il Sole-24 Ore, there were 1,240 shops in 90 countries with 43 percent of the production exported. Sales in 2001 came to over one billion Euro, with a net profit of over 100 million Euro. Over 3,600 people work to produce the more than 40 brands sold.

Please indulge me if I insert a personal note here - many years ago, actually in the early sixties, I happened to be taken on a visit to the Ferrari factory in Maranello by an industrialist who wanted to check the progress of the Ferrari he had ordered. After lunch and a visit to the car and to Ing. Enzo Ferrari, one of the group took us to visit his dress factory in Reggio Emilia. The gentleman's name was Achille Maramotti. He was especially interested in what I, the American visitor, thought of his product. As tactfully as possible I told him that while his clothes appeared to be very well made, I thought they could do with a bit more style, and perhaps he needed to hire a new designer. Little did I imagine that when I returned to live in Italy I would see Max Mara become one of the powerhouses in Italian fashion!

I doubt I had anything to do with it, but those who have worked on Max Mara collections include Karl Lagerfeld, Luciano Soprani, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Narciso Rodriguez, Dolce & Gabbana, and Emanuelle Khanh. In 1990 Maramotti listed six reasons for the company's success to the International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes: "...quality of the fabric and offering the consumer a garment at a price in tune with the market, ability to develop new dlines and new companies rather than sticking to a rigid framework, the youth of a company where the average age is under 30, production knowhow...mixing technology and traditional craftsmanship, listening to customer feedback.... and design creativity."

Today the company founded in 1951 is run by son and chairman Luigi Maramotti, 46. The Max Mara classic style is consistent, thanks to design director Laura Lusuardi who has been with the company for many years. In 2001 Maramotti, in a rare interview, told Harper's Bazaar: "What's next is clothes that live longer. It might seem antique. But it's also modern. In the market, the idea is for everyone to throw everything away each season. But I'm interested in making good design and things that last."

Maramotti's brother Ignazio and sister Maria Ludovica also work for the company.

The Max Mara winter coats are a lynchpin in many women's wardrobes, made of the finest wools including cashmere blends and pure cashmere, usually in classic cuts, but with enough variations each season to keep them up-to-date.

Although Maramotti's father has had his differences with the prickly Italian unions the factory is considered to be a good work environment and the Parmesan cheese in the company cafè is made with milk from the family's cows, and there is a fashion archive available to any worker who wishes to consult it. Achille Maramotti's first contact with fabric and fashion came through his grandmother, a tailor, and his mother's dressmaking school, where students paid for their lessons with the work they produced. Grandmother Marina Rinaldi gave her name to the company's oversize line. Through the years Maramotti, who has a law degree from the University of Rome, also indulged his passions by compiling a collection of contemporary art and publishing and giving away a poetry magazine. "Fashion is never in crisis because clothes are always necessary," he told a reporter in 1994.

Clients include former model and actress Andie McDowell, socialite Cornelia Guest, Liv Tyler, Vanessa Redgrave, Winona Ryder, and Isabella Rossellini. In 2001 Max Mara opened a three-story store in SoHo on West Broadway in New York. There is also a store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Names of young designers who work for Max Mara are not made public, but top photographers including Richard Avedon have photographed the collections for their advertising campaigns.

Maska

"Elegant coats and suits", stated the first Maska price list. It was 1967 when the company specialized in production of coats and jackets was set up near Reggio Emilia. Less that 50 employees, a small collection and a total of 5,000 garments produced: these were Maska's figures in its first year of life. Now the company's employes have become 380 or even 1,200 if one considers the network of subcontractors.

Maska obtained its successes season after season; first through the cooperation with Walter Albini then with Gianni Lotti and in the early 80s with important designers such as Ferre', Gaultier and Moschino.

Alongside with Maska and the company's top collection for classic and elegant women, other trademarks were also developed both in the range of regular and larger sizes. The company now produces four lines: Maska (the company's first line, targeted to a medium-high, classical but modern women's apparel market); M.K. (geared to a young market with exquisite quality at considerable costs); La Cordee (a collection for classic and elegant women, which stresses the femininity of every woman); Blu Rebecca (a collection for women at reasonable costs).

The distribution of the Maska lines in Italy takes place through a network of 250 multi-brand shops and boutiques owned by the company. Maska is present with boutiques in Florence, Venice, Verona, Brescia, Bari and Milan. Its new openings will be London and Paris. Sales are significant in Europe and cover the U.S. and Far Eastern markets as well.

Angelo Litrico

 In 1959 Kruschev took one of his shoes off at the United Nations in New York and slammed it on the table. That shoe was part of a range of accessories and garments that Angelo Litrico had created and produced and then sent to Kruschev.

Angelo was the first of 24 brothers and sisters. He was born in Catania, Sicily at the end of the 20s from a simple family, with limited means. The young Angelo went to school but for financial reasons was unable to complete his studies and found employment with a tailor in his city. With great enthusiasm, Angelo threaded needles, prepared the iron and carried out other small chores.

He soon realised he would not be able to go very far in Catania and so he moved to Rome where he found a job with a tailor on the outskirts of the city. One day walking along Via Sicilia, near the legendary Via Veneto, Angelo noticed a small workshop. He went in and asked to be employed on the bench. He got the job.

One evening Angelo went to the Opera wearing a tuxedo which was noticed by Rossano Brazzi, who subsequently became Angelo's first important customer. With time Angelo's customer base increased and soon he was able to buy out the small work-shop which he would never abandon.

Litrico was the first to organize fashion shows for men and to couple menswear with female garments which were already being presented by the big fashion houses in the 50s. In 1957, Italian fashion was discussed in Russia and Litrico was asked to take part, along with the female fashion houses. Angelo thought of taking a coat to Kruschev as a gift. For the measurements he had used a newspaper photograph. The Party Secretary thanked Litrico and gave him an expensive camera in return. He also gave the tailor his exact measurements.

After a few months, through the Russian embassy, Kruschev asked Litrico for a complete wardrobe which included... the famous shoes! In New York, the news that Litrico had dressed Kruschev came out in all the newspapers. At the time, by chance, he was in the U.S. for a fashion show. Litrico was surrounded by journalists and hundreds of newspapers and magazines spoke about him, in 37 different languages.

Among Angelo's customers were actors such as Richard Burton, John Houston and Rossano Brazzi; and heads of state including Tito, Peron, Nasser, King Hussein, Eisenhower, Mac Millan and Nixon. Litrico died prematurely in 1986 but his name lives on through the work of his younger brother Franco and Franco's son Luca.

André Laug

André Laug was born in the North of France in 1931. He first worked as an army teacher and then at an import house. In 1958 a journalist, Lucien Francois, encouraged him to move to Paris, cultivate his natural talent, and begin work as an apprentice designer in the newly launched Raphael House of Fashion which had just granted the old house building to Givenchy.

At Raphael, Laug learnt all there was to know about the organisation and the creative process of a House of High Fashion. He left Maison Raphael after two and half years of precious training and went to Nina Ricci Haute Couture where he worked with Monsieur Crahay at the first "Mademoiselle Ricci" collection for the United States and the "Spring-Summer" collection of 1961.

Amongst the many important things Monsieur Crahay taught André Laug, the most important was certainly sensibility in choosing fabrics. He then went solo and sold his drawings to Philip Venet who introduced him to Courreges for whom André Laug also had manufacturing experience in Place Vendome. He was invited to go to Rome and work for the Antonelli Fashion House where for five years, he designed all its High Fashion collections and created six seasons of "Ready to Wear".

During all those years however, André Laug had never abbandoned his true wish to open his own house of high fashion, and with that dream in mind, he prepared his boutique collection for the Milan and Paris catwalks. It was July 1968 when André Laug managed finally to open his own fashion house in Rome's exclusive Piazza di Spagna. For that occasion he showed his first couture winter line which recved high praise from both buyers and press.

This success was repeated for each following collection bringing him interesting offers and prestigious contracts with the most important stores all over the world. Amongst them are Elizabeth Arden, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Nan Duskin and many others.

Today André Laug's creations are to be found in all the most sophisticated boutiques in Europe and worldwide. Some of the best known personalities of the international jet set are amongst his private clients.

André Laug died in December 1984.

Lancetti

Pino Lancetti is one of the most prestigious creators of high fashion in Europe. His first big success came in 1963 with the military line which determined a radical change in the way women dressed. Famous throughout the world for his magnificent printed fabrics, often inspired by works of art, his creations have been worn by distinguished women who appreciate the luxury and fine quality of his clothes. Among the most memorable of his collections were the garments dedicated to Picasso presented at the French Academy at Villa Medici in 1986.

Pino Lancetti is the only designer who in recent years has brought the most famous models in the world to present his collections: from Naomi Campbell to Carla Bruni, from Yasmeet Gauri to Karen Mulder, from Kate Moss to Veronica Webb. For the moment this activity has been abandoned, considering the high cost and disorganizzation of the semi-annual collections.

After more than thirty years of success in high fashion Lancetti launched during the past year a program of complete revision of his strategy and operating structure, with an eye on more flexibility and competitiveness in the marketplace.

The first step was the complete reorganizzation of management with a more international thrust, followed by the entry of new elements in the planning office and the revision of the offices in Rome in Piazza di Spagna where all the activities of the company are now concentrated.

More than twenty licensing agreements have been concluded, and looking toward the future with a desire to modernise the Lancetti image several new labels have been created: "Miss Francesca" and "Lancetti & Company." A line of knitwear in cashmere for men and women was launched as well as the Lancetti dresses for brides. Lancetti has also turned his creative talents to creating mens shirts and ties, stockings, scarves, umbrellas, and promotional gifts for businesses.

Krizia

 Krizia is the name Mariuccia Mandelli chose to make her dream come true. She borrowed the name from the title of Plato's unfinished dialogue on women's vanity and spelt it with a K to make it sound more exotic. Plato's Crizia is a man who squanders all his riches on jewelry and clothing for beautiful and compliant women. It is the beginning of the 1950s and Krizia, the designer, embarks on her adventure and repeats to herself: "I hope I will meet many like him along the way. How lucky I would be then."

Her hopes were to turn into reality. The girl from Bergamo, who as a child had enjoyed making dresses for her dolls, trades the security of a teaching job for the risky realm of fashion design. Although her decision is a shock to the family, Mandelli is undeterred. With a friend, Flora Dolci, she rents two rooms in Milan which become her first design studio and workshop. The Krizia label is born on skirts. Dresses follow, in a fresh, young style, already featuring fitted sleeves framed by a flat smooth line. But it was tough at the beginning: making people appreciate her designs and obtaining loans from banks. In time, success is inevitable. Freedom of choice is her leit motif.

The soul and creator of Krizia beleives "every woman should dress as she pleases as long as what she wears becomes part of her." Her fashion is adaptable to any lifestyle, situation or cultural revolution and still maintains a feminine touch. Over the years, Krizia's constant research for new materials goes hand in hand with introducing new outlines. The first models she showed in public in 1957 included a series of fruit print dresses. Next came a striking black and white collection showed at the Pitti Palace in Florence in 1964. Pleating, careful attention to shoulders, and the use of fanciful animals on her clothes are only some of the distinctive features that have recurrently turned Krizia's creations into successes.

Today over 50 collections a year are created for the various Krizia labels, which includes menswear, children's wear, knitwear, as well as glasses, handbags, ties, perfumery, kitchen furniture and much more. With the strong support of her husband Aldo Pinto, who is in charge of the company's organizational and commercial coordination, Mariuccia Mandelli manages a growing enterprise with increasing sales worldwide.

Krizia's search for the ideal vacation spot led to her developing the resort of her dreams on the island of Barbuda in the British West Indies where she designed everything down to the silverware and uniforms for the maids. VIPs from all over the world have come to enjoy her luxurious version of the simple life.

Istante

Istante was born as the Autumn/Winter collection of 85/86. It is a pret a porter line for both men and women aimed at a medium-high target. Its customers are dynamic and young and in search of style and just like all other Versace collections it has a well defined image. Istante's style, distribution and production are conducted by the Versace Group. The prices of the Istante col- lection are some 30 percent less than the principal Gianni Versace collection.

The first collection in 1985/86 was Istante for women and one year later the collection for Men was launched. Since the beginning, the "total look" conceept is underlined, a look which goes from jackets to knitwear, from trousers to shirts, always reflecting the and different styles of the Versace Group.

Istante inaugurated a showroom in Milan in 1985. All its garments and accessories are sold throughout Italy, Europe, Japan and the United States. Istante Donna was studied for young women accustomed to stylish clothes. The shapes, lines and colors emphasize the concept of a garment which lasts in time. Exclusive fabrics and perfect manufacture.

Istante Uomo is a "total look" for men who feel active and dynamic; it falls into a category between classic and avantguard. It is new in the shapes, combinations and fabrics and is inspired by a sporty an practical elegance, currently enjoyed by contemporary man. The line was created to satisfy a social change; it is a collection of the man who wants to live a daily adventure but at the same time stay in tune with the times.

For both men and women, leather goods are produced by New Pel, shoes by Mario Giordano, belts and bags by Diver, and jewelry by Immagine.

GUCCI

 Guccio Gucci was born in 1881, the son of a Florentine craftsman. When still a young boy he moved to Paris and then to London quickly working his way up to the position of Maitre d'Hotel at the Savoy. And there, in one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, Guccio observed and metabolised culture, ideas, style and aesthetical sophistication. When he went back to Italy in 1920, Guccio opened the first Gucci shop in Florence with a capital of only 30.000 lira. These are the humble beginnings of a trademark that has become a tradition.

Guccio's first success arrived thanks to his leather craftsmanship and his accessories for horseback riders. As a more and more sophisticated clientele patronised the Gucci firm it grew slowly and steadily. The Gucci's - who came to include Guccio's sons Aldo, Ugo, Vasco and Rodolfo, - opened new shops in Florence, Rome and Milan. in 1953, over their father's strenuous objections, Aldo and Rodolfo opened the first overseas Gucci shop in New York, but it was also the year that Guccio died marking the end of an era for the family firm.

The brothers persevered, however, and those were the years in which the products destined to become "classics" were created: the handbag with the bamboo handle; the mocassin with the distinctive Gucci snaffle-bit; the foulards: the belt clasps; the ties. New shops were opened in London, Palm Beach, Paris, Beverly Hills and Tokyo.

The late nineteen sixties marked the explosion of the "Status Symbol" and Gucci, along with fellow Florentine Pucci, was among the first Italian names recognized world-wide. Production increased and the biggest factory yet was opened on the outskirts of Florence. But in the same period clashes within the family resulted in the 1989 nomination of Rodolfo's son Maurizio Gucci to President of the Group.

Gucci decided to concentrate on the revaluation of the original family tradition of beautifully crafted artisan products. On the advice of Dawn Mello, brought in from Bergdorf Goodman, they cut back from 20,000 articles to 5.000 concentrating on the most popular successes: the bag with the bamboo handle, suitcases, shoes, the "Flora" foulard created by Rodolfo Gucci and the artist Accornero for Grace Kelly. They even cut down on the number of distributors: today there are 180 Gucci boutiques in the world.

His cousins had already left the company, and in 1993 Maurizio Gucci stepped down and sold his shares to Investcorp, an Arab multinational. Various financial manuverings ensued, and after publicly-owned comany withstood a takeover effort by LVMH it remained in the hands of Pinault. The contracts of CEO Domenico del Sole and uber-designer Tom Ford were not renewed and they stepped down on April 1, 2004. Aldo Gucci once laughed when this writer told him that one day Gucci would hold fashion shows - today Gucci stands at the top of the fashion name heap.

Romeo Gigli

The trend-setting Milanese catwalks in 1986 were populated by aggressive managerial women dressed "to kill" in severly tailored suits with broad shoulders that meant "business." The "Dress for Success" look was the expression of a rampant "yuppie" society that relegated femininity to the domestic walls. In stark contrast, Romeo Gigli's pale, delicate, long-necked and barefooted models drifted into the limelight draped in simple romantic tunics that looked as soft as rose petals. He took the fashion world by storm. Romeo Gigli's women love to feel beautiful in his luxurious and sensual clothes. He has been described the "minimalist" of fashion, the master of "understatement," the "romantic intellectual".

After his success in 1986, Gigli's distinctive style has grown more pronounced with each collection, characterized by a close fit that follows the lines of the body, soft, romantic draping, a tendency towards asymmetry, an overall look of grace and fluidity. His colours are muted but rich: deep blues, gray-greens, rose pinks, saffron, mole brown, claret red, moss green, often touched with delicate gold brocade, rich Indian embroideries, filigrees of pearls, teardrops of Venetian glass.

Romeo Gigli comes from a wealthy aristocratic family, he draws on a rich culture imbibed from the 20,000 rare antiquarian books in his bigliophile father's library and on his many travels to the East. His muses are the Empress Theodora from Byzanthium, the young and beautiful women depicted in the mosaics of Ravenna's Byzantine Churches, and Piero della Francesca's virginal beauties.

Gigli avoids the glare of the limelight, rarely concedes interviews, and tries hard to keep to the shadows. Gigli did his first fashion designs in 1972 and set up his own label - manufactured by the Novara-based company Zamasport - in 1983. In 1991 a traumatic separation from his friends and business partners Donato Maiano and Carla Sozzani called for a basic restucturing of his business which has given birth to his "Romeo World" headed by himself, with a 1991 tunover of 200 billion lire.

Preraphaelite" is the adjective most commonly used to describe his dreamy looking beauties; Romeo Gigli's unconstructed clothes have conquered even the difficult French public. He works mostly in stretch linen, silk, chiffon, cotton gauze, wool, cashmere and silk gazar. His basics included rounded cocoon coats, long fitted jackets, tunic knits and narrow pants. His opulent crushed velvets lit with green and gold brocade at the ankles; his scarves embroidered in yellow, gold and apple green like Easter altar cloths. England's Bath Costume Museum chose one of Romeo Gigli's creations as its 1991 Dress of the Year: a midnight-blue venvet pantsuit, its blouse a streaky sunset of stripes and its gilt-embroidered cummerbund as though tipped by the rays of the sun.

Genny

The Genny group, based in Ancona on the Adriatic sea, produces and distributes the following lines: Genny, Complice, Byblos Donna, and Byblos Uomo for a total of almost two million garments a year and gross billings of 300 billion lire. In addition, the Genny and Byblos names have been licensed to a number of accessories including handbags, shoes, eyeglasses and perfumes. Over the years the Genny Group has achieved a number of goals that have reinforced the company's image not only in Europe but in the United States and Japan as well.


In October of 1977 the Genny ready-to-wear line for women held its first fashion show in the legendary "Sala Bianca" of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, launching the group on an international level.


In February of 1984 Genny passed another milestone by putting on a fashion show at the White House on the invitation of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan and the Princess Grace Foundation. This was the first time any Italian fashion house received such an honor.


In April, 1995, for the first time ever a fashion designer was invited to put on a show at the United Nations, and the honor went to Genny.


Born in Mondolfo (Pesaro) on February 17, 1994, Donatella Girombelli went to work as a young woman as an assistant designer for the Genny group. After a few years she married one of the owners, Arnaldo, and the couple had a son, Leonardo. It was no surprise that the energetic, intelligent woman with creamy skin and red hair caught his eye. After his untimely death in the early 1980s she took over the company and has been running it ever since. She has developed a distinctive look for each line, Genny being well known for careful tailoring of clothes mostly meant for career women and careful details including embroidery for an ultra-feminine look for evening.


Being involved in community activities is not that common for Italian career women but Girombelli has always made time for such work and as a result has received a number of honors. The Italian government has also recognized her work as an industrialist, nominating her commendatore of the Italian Republic. She was also awarded a gold medal by the Mayor of Ancona, and given an honorary degree by the University of Urbino in recognition of her work with young people and helping to create jobs for them.


At the moment the Genny collection is being designed by the U.S. stylist Rebecca Moses. The target client is a woman like Girombelli, who wants to be comfortable and look elegant on the job and feminine in the evening. The woman who keeps the books "Women Who Run With Wolves" and "The Little Prince" on her bedside table is demanding of her co-workers, but at the same time wishes she had had more children. She consideres her outstanding character traits courage, determination, and impatience. She considers her biggest defect to be her stubbornness. Some of her choices give an insight into the character of this chic woman who runs a clothing empire: favorite music - Mozart, Eric Satie, Vangelis, myths: Freida Kahlo and Coco Chanel, favorite movies: Orlando, An enchanted April, Out of Africa, and the talent she wishes she was born with - to be able to act.

Gattinoni

In 1924 Fernanda Gattinoni had her first taste of fashion at the Molyneux atelier in London. In 1930 she returned to Italy and began her creative collaboration at the Ventura atelier in Milan, and was soon put in charge of the House's creative department along with Madame Anna.

In 1934 the Fashion House opened its Rome office entrusting Fernanda with directing the design department until 15 when the Fernanda Gattinoni atelier was inaugurated in Rome. Famous actresses visited the atelier in Via Marche including Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani, Lucia Bose and Audrey Hepburn, for whom Fernanda Gattinoni designed the costumes of "War and Peace". In the 50s and 60s when Rome was synonymous with cinema there were 25 full-time embroiderers for wedding dresses at the Gattinoni fashion house. Such dresses had long trains and were first made of heavy taffetas and marocain and later chiffon. The wedding dress of the Persian Shah's sister was among those made by the atelier's golden hands. In 1960 Fernanda Gattinoni created an Empire style collection which reconfirmed her name all over the world.

From the mid-80s the atelier's tradition is run by Raniero, Fernanda's son. Reinventing the Gattinoni style, Raniero was able to assert the label in many ready-to-wear lines as well as continue with success the high fashion tradition. Raniero has a London University degree in Arts and Philosophy. After a work experience at Mary Quant and Harrods, he began to work as a designer at the end of the 70s. He designed knitwear collections for some prestigious Italian companies. In 1985, the National Chamber of Fashion invited him to join the famous names which showed their collections in Piazza di Spagna. Only three years later, Raniero Gattinoni signed his first high fashion collection.

Today the Gattinoni label is on various female ready-to-wear lines present in many countries around the world. Some 2000 people are employed on the various lines and other activities tied to the industry by licence contracts. All the creations of the production lines are designed by Guglielmo Mariotto who heads the house's design department.

The collections are presented to Italian and foreign customers at the Gattinoni show-room in Milan; twice a year the Gattinoni lines are exhibited at the Hotel Place Athenee on occasion of the Paris Pret-a-Porter shows.

And now, after seventy years of fashion activity, Fernanda Gattinoni will hold an exhibition to celebrate her atelier's first 50 years.

Nazareno Gabrielli

There's a common denominator in the history of Nazareno Gabrielli. It's that special ability, based on the respect of traditions, of living ahead of the times. This does not mean being unrealistic, but rather knowing how to interpret the needs and changes of taste and fashion according to an exclusive and personal style always coherent with its own distinct set of values.

And so Nazareno Gabrielli's world is born, a cosmos which encompasses a style of life, cultured and refined, whose fundamental values are elegance, quality, taste and class modelled on the trends of modern life. All this is the result of a progressive evolution.

Today the consumer is mature and demands a high quality product. It is a time which sees the great return of "labels" of great traditions, which have over the years been able to resist the temptation of being "in fashion". That is the case of Nazareno Gabrielli which is proposing itself as a reference point for the buyers of the 90s.

At present the fashion house from Tolentino offers a total look range, from suits to accessories, including traditional leather goods, paper goods and other gifts. Nazareno Gabrielli is hoping to intensify its presence in the men's and women's fashion segments with product lines in leather, fabric and knitwear.

These efforts are allowing a tighter operative integration of all its activities, both as far as product development and production are concerned, and at the distribution and investment levels, and achieving in this way important economic sinergies.

Thus the world of Nazareno Gabrielli is being continuously enriched into a dimension that makes quality constant in time and space. The bag, scarf, electronic agenda, wallet or foulard are all the different fruits of a unique idea which was born from a culture rooted in the artisanal activity of an Italy which was able to impose itself in time and is now recognized worldwide.

Sorelle Fontana Sisters

Fashion Houses
Sorelle Fontana



 The Sorelle Fontana sisters, creators of the Fashion House famous the world over, belong to a generation without equals. These three strong and united women learned their job with Mamma Amabile the small atelier inherited in 1907 from their great grandmother.

Soon the three sisters turned their notions into art. At first they were working in a small Italian provincial town, famous for its artists: Parma. In 1937 Zoe, the eldest sister, thought it was time to "take off". She was unsure whether her destination should be Rome or Milan as both cities appealed to Zoe. She let her instinct decide and caught the first train to Rome. In the city of the stars and of the splendid aristocracy, Zoe immediately found a job in a large fashion house. A few months later the family was reunited when her sisters Micol and Giovanna joined her, as did Mamma Amabile.

Rome at the time was the centre of great events. The rooms of the Sorelle Fontana's atelier on a corner with Via Veneto were soon to be filled with aristocratic women and the foreign actresses in Rome working on the set at Cinecitta'. Among their many famous customers were Donna Marella Agnelli, Princess Grace of Monaco, Margaret Truman, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Princesses Savoia. The Sorelle Fontana have also dressed famous stars such as Linda Christian, Ava Gardner, Joan Collins, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Barbara Stanwyck and many more.

The Sorelle Fontana were the first to feel the need to give a fashion in Italy a look of its own, freeing it from foreign influence. With this spirit in mind, once they had conquered the Italian clientele, the Sorelle Fontana took their fashion abroad. In 1951 they went to the United States where their success was immediate. Soon their fashion was recognised in Europe, Japan, Africa and Asia.

In the following years, the Sorelle Fontana decided to produce a line of ready to wear fashion in parallel to their high fashion collection. Their objective was to offer a product which could be sold in prestigious shops to a wider market. In Italy their fashion lines include leather and brides. One of the major successes for the Sorelle Fontana came when they celebrated 20 years of activity and collaboration with Japan.

Fiorucci

Fiorucci is the name of a look, a new retail concept, a business and social phenomenon. In the early 1960s Fiorucci was a small shoe shop in Milan owned and run by present Fiorucci tycoon Elio's father: the elegant Milanese with money used to have their clothes and shoes made to order.

In 1962, Elio Fiorucci, then 22, took three pairs of brightly coloured plastic galoshes to a weekly Milan fashion magazine and convinced the editors to publish a photograph them and Ecco! they became an overnight sensation. A new Fiorucci was born. In 1967, when America was alive with Bob Dylan and LSD and The Doors, and the object of dress was outrage, Milan was prim, conservative, and untouched by folly. The Fiorucci Milan store began in 1967 as an alternative for shoppers.

Elio Fiorucci brought the youth culture from London and presented it to young Italians who loved it. They had barely seen T-shirts and jeans and glitter - now they could buy it. Nothing in Fiorucci is really original, except that it all is. Everything comes from something or somewhere else. The Fiorucci trends follow "mass culture facts": the emergence of rock music, the ecology movement, a seductive political cause: in the 70s, Fiorucci designers observed first-hand the advent of terrorism as a political tool, and they invented brightly coloured parachute cloth jumpsuits; they turned workmen's lunchboxes into purses, in both plastic and metal.

At Fiorucci nothing is sacred. Fiorucci's real genius has been to take something ordinary and turn it into fashion. Elio Fiorucci splashed out on the American 50s look and sold it back to the Americans and to the rest of the world. One of the favorite words in the Fiorucci lexicon is "recycle": it means reuse, change, reassemble, reinvent. To list a few of the looks popularised by Fiorucci: gold lame` (shoes, bags, boots, jeans, belts, luggage), fishnet stockings, fake animal skin fabrics, clothes in Lycra and Spandex, military fabric for "silly" clothes. little star prints and little stripes in bright candy colours.

Today jeans are the centerpiece of the Fiorucci empire - they come in fushcia, peach, perinwinkle and jade. It is the details that have made Fiorucci: the multi-coloured buttons running down the front of a man's shirt; the glimmer of metallic thread darting off the surface of an otherwise undistinguished plaid cotton; exatly what made those first Fiorucci galoshes Crayola-coloured unlike the rest of the dull galoshes in the world. There are Fiorucci stores in the world's most exclusive shopping centers.

The Fiorucci empire has been split into shares that have been bought by various multinational corporations, but throughout the years and the changes, the Fiorucci look has remained true to itself: fun and anti-fashion.

Gianfranco Ferré

Gianfranco Ferré was born in Legnano on August 15, 1944. He went to high school in Legnano and graduated with a degree in architecture. His first job was in the design studio of a furniture company. He loved to travel and when he made some special chains for a girl friend that were noticed by the owners of a boutique in Portofino, he found himself designing accessories.

In 1972 he went to work for a manufacturer of raincoats in Genoa which permitted him to travel all over the world, and in l978 he launched the first collection of Ferré ready-to-wear for women, which was followed the same year by a more sporty line, Oaks by Ferré. Almost immediately his clothes had a distinctive look, with simple lines making a strong, bold statement, looking especially good on a tall, intellectual woman. The important dressmaker white blouse with original touches soon became a Ferré trademark. Ferre's first perfume for women appeared in 1984, followed by the men's fragrance in 1986.

Ferré's clothes were especially popular with American women looking for an elegant, sophisticated alternative to the cookie-cutter look of "power dressing." Ferré's suits and pants suits and distinctive accessories were snapped up by executives. For evening Ferré brought back the important ball gown, designed to make a grand enterance, with important skirts supportd by layers of crinolines.

The first high fashion collection, rich and opulent, designed by Gianfranco Ferre was presented with great success in Rome in 1986 and was received with enthusiasm by press and buyers. Not surprisingly, when the French House of Dior launched a serach for a designer to replace Marc Bohan, the choice eventually settled on Ferré. The announcement was made in May of 1989. Many in the fashion world were shocked that the chauvinistic French had decided to put the prestigious French House of Dior in the hands of an Italian, but Ferré was a happy solution, and he was immediately awared with the prestigious "Golden Needle." He has managed to capture the traditional Dior spirit and interpret it in a modern, fresh manner, while retaining the elegance and attention to details that defines high fashion.

Ferré has a great passion for travel, but he also enjoys relaxing at his lakeside house at Lake Maggiore not far from Milan.

Salvatore Ferragamo

Back in the late twenties before most of the big names in Italian fashion were even born, Salvatore Ferragamo was crafting beautiful shoes for some of the most famous feet in Hollywood. Born in Bonito, near Naples, one of 14 children. By the time he was nine he knew that he wanted to make shoes for a living, and convinced his peasant father (who considered shoemaking too lowly a profession) to allow him to move to Naples and become an apprentice. The wave of Italian immigrants to the United States had not yet ended, and by fourteen the youngster was on a slow boat to America.

Go West Young Man, said Horace Greely, and Ferragamo took the advice to heart. Hollywood was in its heyday, and the stars were revered as gods and godesses. After a short stint in a factory making cowboy boots, he graduated to making Roman sandals for the Cecil de Mille epics, and before long he had become the "Shoemaker to the Stars." He had great imagination and fantasy, and many of the original shoes he created in the thirties inspired big-name shoemakers in the sixties and seventies, as many observers noticed during a definitive exhibit of his work at the Victoria and Albert museum held during the fall of 1987.

But Ferragamo was unique in that he was not only interested in decorating a woman's foot, he wanted to be creative but wanted his client to be comfortable. In an era when many women squeezed their feet into the smallest size that was bearable, Ferragamo studied the anatomy of the foot, insisting that "High fashion and comfort are not incompatible." Actresses Anna Magnani and Ava Gardner were treasured customers, as well as Gloria Swanson and Theda Bara.

Back in Florence Ferragamo established headquarters in Palazzo Feroni-Spini on the Via Tornabuoni, Florence's toniest shopping street. In the fifties his shoes became available in selected American department stores, but although the shoes were manufactured on an industrial level rather than being handmade they retained their beauty, quality, and comfort. He was still a young man when he died in 1960, but his wife Wanda and his children have carried on the tradition, introducing a line of ready-to-wear that is simple but luxurious and features butter-soft leather garments. An extremely successful man's ready-to-wear line is also part of the Ferragamo line.

Fendi/Fendissime

It all started in 1925, when Edoardo and Adele Fendi opened a small leather and fur store with its own workshop in Via del Plebiscito in the center of Rome. The business prospered, and a new shop was opened in Via Piave in 1932. By 1946 Paola, 15, the eldest of the couple's five daughters, went to work for the firm, followed by her sisters Carla, Anna, Franca, and Alda.

The next big step for the family was taking over a movie theater on Via Borgognona that was about to be torn down. Adele Fendi, already an urban preservationist, protested to the owner, who promptly answered: "Why don't you buy it, Signora Fendi?" She did, the Fendi flagship store was born, and today there are five Fendi shops (leather goods, fur, shoes, luggage, ready-to-wear) on Via Borgognona alone. Anna Fendi is president of the Via Borgognona Association.

In 1965 a marriage made in heaven, that between the Fendis and German designer Karl Lagerfeld, was sealed, and it proved to be fortuitous for both. Lagerfeld immediately created the inverted FF logo that joined the growing list of international status symbols, and then set about, aided and abetted by the sisters, to revolutionize the treatment of fur.

What had once been a precious but stiff and heavy garment was transformed into a light, soft, easy-to-wear and above all flattering outfit. The team went on to invent new ways of working with fur, tanning, dying, and treating, and took previously unused skins and turned them into fashionable garments.

By 1966 Fendi had presented its first couture fur collection, designed by Lagerfeld. It was an immediate success with foreign buyers. Marvin Traub, president of Bloomingdale's, discovered Fendi's leather goods and introduced them to the United States. Other outlets soon followed, and today Fendi has a large store on New York's Fifth Avenue, as well as numerous Fendi boutiques around the world.

In 1969 Fendi presented its first ready-to-wear fur collection at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, bringing continuously evolving techniques and imaginative designs to lower-priced furs without sacrificing quality. When the sisters couldn't find the fabric clothes they wanted to show under the furs their ready-to-wear line was born, again to great success. It wasn't long before the "young" Fendissime line was born, followed by perfume and other licenses.

Vuitton and Prada bought 51 percent of the company in November, 1999, from the sisters. In 2001 Prada ceded its share to Vuitton. Carla Fendi is the only sister involved with Fendi, and Silvia Venturini (Anna's daughter) is creative director of men's fashions as well as accessories for men and women. Karl Lagerfeld continues to design the fur and women's collections.

Fendissime

Maria Teresa, Federica and Maria Ilaria Fendi are the third generation of Fendis to continue working in the family tradition, but with their very own label, "Fendissime." Maria Teresa and Ilaria are daughters of Anna Fendi, while Federica is Franca's daughter. The cousins grew up in the business and absorbed the family traditions which include hard work, an almost obsessive attention to detail and innovation, and a very close relationship with the Fendi customers of all ages. In all areas, whether it be furs, accessories, or ready-to-wear, the Fendis have always been responsive to new ideas and trends while maintaing their reputation for the highest quality and taste.

Both Maria Teresa and Federica put in several years of apprenticeship and gained valuable expperience working in department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales (in the U.S.), Brown's (in the U.K.) and AOI Company Ltd. (in Japan).

Maria Ilaria, after her studies at the European Institute of Design spent two years in Paris working as an intern for Chanel following the ready-to wear and high fashion collctions. She then joined the family business and was put in charge of the planning behind all the Fendi lines.

Maria Teresa, who has also worked in the entertainment sector as a costume designer for the theatre, cinema and opera, is sensitive to cultural influences from which the Fendissime lines draw their inspiration. She is therefore in charge of communications and devotes herself to promoting the company's image in new and innovative ways. Federica, the more pragmatic of the three, is in charge of planning and coordinating all the collections: from clothes to accessories. Maria Ilaria, the youngest, is quick to bring in customers' new suggestions and transforms needs into products. She is responsible for the design of all the lines.

Fendissime is present in New York and Tokyo (there are also 30 sales outlets in Japan) and of course on the new Roman "Rive Gauche" or "Left Bank" which was born on the left hand side of Via del Corso, the wide street that bisects the downtown shopping area, and follows an itinerary which goes from Via Fontanella Borghese to Via del Governo Vecchio just behind Piazza Navona.

The Fendissime shop has the atmosphere of a large comfortable "salon" where the product occupies the space "naturally": the ready-to-wear garments, the accessories, the shoes are all items that relate to life in the city, for sport and to relax. Maria Teresa, Federica and Maria Ilaria's passion for fashion has brought them to achieve this most satusfying result. Their years of working together and continuing the family tradition in thier very own personal and autonomous way, paying careful attention to research into style, production, distribution and a special care to prices has paid off with impressive results...

And they still want to do more... Fendissime at Via Fontanella Borghese wants to become an international meeting point with a rest area where one can stop to read newspapers and foreign magazines, drink a cup of tea or coffee, write a letter or see an exhibition.

ETRO

The name "Etro" has now become synonymous with style. A lifestle, above all aimed at quality and esthetic refinement. A total look, a universe of elegance originating in Gimmo Etro's innate passion for travels andhistory, which have now become the leitmotive of all the lines. This love for exoticism and for culture has always motivated his research, ever since he began his entrepreneurial adventure as a converter of textiles for the clothing industry founded as Etro S.p.A. in 1968.

Production included precious fabrics made with noble and natural fibres, such as cashmere, silk, linen and cotton embellished with original designs and innovative colours.In 1981 Etro created a line of furnishing fabrics.

The motif characterizing the first collection was Paisley, which has be come not only the production masterpiece, but also Etro's hallmark. This line was soon completed by accessories for menswear and womenswear: shawls, foulards, scarve and ties. Once again special emphasis was placed on precious materials, but the creative designs went as far as to explore unusual figurative and chromatic intepretations.

The product range got wider with leatherwear, a collection of bgs and suitcases in an exclusive fabric - jacquard with paisley pattern - treated with a special plasticization process which eventually included also smaller and more practical models, such as wallets, travelling bags, vanity cases, becoming a status symbol of this chic of the Eighties. And at the same time a series of acessories for the home: duvets, quilts, frames, lamps, cache-pots, furnishing complements that "dress" the environment with refined fascination.

In view of the nineties, Etro turned to ready-to-wear. The stylitic research created inventive and modern menswear and womenswear, even if the careful cuts and finishings revealed an extraordinary craftmanship.

An elite public today chooses the style of Etro. The trademark distribution policy is extremely selective. The creative center is still Milan. The historic headquarters in the Liberty palace on Via Spartaco is complemented by a showroom across the street. A boutique on Via Pontaccio features home furnishings, while a four-story shop on Via Montenapoleone features the clothing line for men and women, and a boutique on nearby Via Verri stocks the latest Etro enterprise, perfumes and essences.

The trademark distribution policy, apart from relying on the best qualified salespoints in eery country, is oriented towrd the opening of most prestigious single-brand stores in the most important capital cities of the world. Etro boutiques are at present situated in Rome on Via del Babuino, and in Paris on the Rue Faubourg St. Honore'.

By the end of 1995 an exclusive six-story area will be opened on Madison Avenue and in 1996 the second boutique in Paris will be inaugurated on Boulevard St. Germain.

Since the mid-eighties, a commercial joint-venture enabled Etro to be present in the far east with 40 stores, from Japan to Hong Kong, to Singapore to Korea and its production is on its way to conquer the markets of Australia, Taiwan, and China.

Dolce and Gabbana

Domenico Dolce was born in Polizzi Generosa near Palermo, Sicily on August 13, 1958. He was very young when he started his career as a designer in his father Saverio's small atelier. Stefano Gabbana, of Venetian origins, was born in Milan on November 14, 1962, and after studying graphic design turned his interest to fashion.

In 1982, after having spent two years working as assistant designers they decided to work for themselves and opened a design studio. The two were united by the desire to express and communicate an unusual and extremely personal taste, much of it inspired by Dolce's Sicilian origins.

Their first break came in 1985 when they were among the three chosen names to present their collections in the new talents category at the Milan shows. The duo made a big effort and the press and buyers present at the show did the rest. The name, representing a new generation of "Made in Italy", soon became famous all over the world. First success gave them confidence to pursue their own vision of fashion, gradually expanding, and avoiding offers of easy money for licenses before they were sure of their moves.

They both work extremely hard making their own paper models, prototypes and accessories, following their sales, shows, public relations and advertising campaigns. Their vision and personalities are stamped on everything they do. Their philosophy is reflected in their work. Dolce & Gabbana's fashion has "real" women in mind; it is sensual and austere, and clearly draws inspiration from Mediterranean colours and culture. The fabrics preferred include lace, wool, and silk. In 1987 they moved into a larger showroom.

In 1988, Dolce & Gabbana signed an agreement with the Onward Kashiyama group and started distributing their designs in Japan. The previous year their first knitwear designs was launched. 1989 marked the first lingerie and beachwear outfits, followed by a menswear collection in 1990. Dolce and Gabbana signed further agreements to design the Complice line for the Genny group. Next come the boutiques, first Milan, then Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Seoul.

Becoming one of Madonna's favorite fashion houses certainly didn't hurt the team, and they designed a number of costumes for her to wear in one of her world tours. In 1992 Dolce & Gabbana launched a perfume which won the 1993 Perfume Academy International Prize for the best female fragrance. Their two latest lines include Dolce & Gabbana Basic, sold only in Milan, which covers a wide variety of their classic designs, and D & G aimed at the younger generation, both in style and price. Dolce & Gabbana had g ross sales of 178 billion lire (calculate $1=1600 lire) in 1994 and projects an income of 280 billion lire for 1995. These figures also include the D&G and D&G jeans brands.

Clara Centinaro

Clara Centinaro was a pioneer in Italian fashion. She was among the first to take the "Made in Italy" label all over the world. She was twenty years old when she arrived in Rome from her birthplace Bedona, in the province of Parma. Her work and her name grew at the same pace as the name and prestige Italian fashion attained in the world, with constant and decisive contribution. Since the start of the High Fashion shows in Rome, she has always been present with her collections.

Her customers are proof of her success and her international fame. Evita Peron has had Clara dress her more than once in Argentina and three wives of Venezuelan presidents have used her skills. Many wives of ambassadors have been among her customers, including Danielle Gardner, the wife of the former American ambassador to Rome. Other clients have included the wives of prominent Italian government figures such as Signora Gronchi, Mattarella, Pella, Fanfani; the Roman aristocracy including Princess Borghese, Princess Odescalchi, Princess Ruffo, the Princess of Calabria, Countess Donatella Pecci Blunt and Countess Marta Marzotto. Often Clara Centinaro dressed members of the Belgian royalty such as Paola of Lieges and her daughter Astrid.

The great quantity of journalists that write about Clara bear witness to her activity as a creator of fashion. The most famous and prestigious fashion magazines have widely illustrated her activity and importance, covering her collections regularly.

In 1970, as a recognition of her work in this field, so important for our country, she was awarded the title of "Cavaliere della Repubblica" by the then president Giuseppe Saragat. In 1986 for the same reason President Cossiga named her "Ufficiale", and in 1992 "Commendatore".

Clara Centinaro was the first to present her fashion in Poland with the wife of General Jaruleski presiding at her fashion shows. Clara particularly liked and gave careful attention to wedding dresses and those for debutantes, including Princess Windischgraetz and the latest one for Schumalit Orvieto, the wife of conductor Daniel Oren.

With the 1990 spring-summer collection Clara Centinaro launched her perfume; a very refined new fragrance which bears her name. She also prepared the costumes for the ballet "Swan Lake" which was staged during the 1990-91 season at the Rome Opera House. For Clara, the theatrical experience was fantastic, so much so, that the designer wants to draw inspirion from the Russian opera and ballet for her new autumn-winter collection.

Brioni

The name Brioni first appeared in 1945 when master tailor Nazareno Fonticoli and fashion designer Gaetano Savini opened one of the first men's fashion houses in Rome's central Via Barberini. The two partners named it Brioni after one of the most elegant resorts on the Adriatic coast. Its custom tailoring was a favourite haunt of Europe's aristocracy and has remained a reference point for quality shopping to this day.

Brioni's Italian style expressed a new way of dressing for men immediately after the first world war. It was instantly accepted because it managed to unite renewal with a classic stylish cut. Interest grew as the Brioni collections went from one success to the next and enthusiastic buyers flocked to the fashion shows. Their first historic show was held in 1952 at Palazzo Pitti in Florence and soon Brioni became the first true ambassador of men's fashion in the world.

In the 1950s when Rome became the Hollywood on the Tiber, movie celebrities began to buy their suits from Brioni. These included the like of Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson and many more. In 1954 Brioni held a fashion show in New York and then in eight other American cities. Those wer the years when all eyes were riveted on the Italian fashion scene and Brioni's "Roman style"scored successes and collected awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Brioni opened shops in all the major capitals.

In order to meet the demand of such a large clientele Brioni opened a factory in Abruzzo, where expert tailors hand sewed the main sections of the jackets and trousers, before adding the finishing touches by machine. In addition, Brioni purchased a shirt factory, a leather fashion house and later even brought out a women's line.

Every season 900 tailors the Brioni factory create 200 models in different styles and sizes. A quarter of the production consists of made to measure suits for an elite of 25,000 customers, who order two or three garments per season. History has it that once a Middle Eastern sultan ordered one hundred suits all in one month.

Each garment takes at least 18 hours of work, not counting the time that it must rest between adjustments. According to signor Savini-Brioni "wool is a living material that must adjust and breathe. Your suit will be pressed no less than 184 times during a 2 month period, the time you'll need to wait for it to be finished."

Brioni's fabrics (there are 5000 different fabrics to choose from) and impeccable cuts have made the name stand for perfectionism and quality.

Laura Biagiotti

Laura Biagiotti was studying literature at the university in Roma, hoping to eventually do work in archeology, when she started helping out her mother in her dressmaking business. The company produced high-fashion clothes for such designers as Barocco, Schuberth, Capucci, Heinz Riva and Litrico. But Laura Biagiotti wanted to create fashions with her own name, so in 1965 she made a deal with an experienced designer, Angelo Tarlazzi, to produce ready-to-wear clothes for women.

The first line, shown in 1972, was successful, and Biagiotti earned the name "Queen of Cashmere" after taking over a cashmere company called MacPherson and devoting a large part of her efforts to creating revolutionary new garments made from the precious yarn. She was generous in her use, and the warm, enveloping dresses, sweaters, and cardigans were welcomed by women, especially those living in the cold climates.

Biagiotti was especially concerned with producing flattering and comfortable clothes for women, who quickly took to her soft tailoring and loose-fitting dresses distinguished by their tiny pleats, top-stitching, and ajouree` work. Every Biagiotti collection includes a series of comfortable "baby doll" dresses, and pants often have elastic waists.

Biagiotti is known for trying on models herself, and insisting that her collaborators also try them on, standing, sitting, and walking, until she is sure that each and every model is practical and comfortable. These principles also apply to the men's fashions she creates. Laura Biagiotti Uomo for men was launched in 1987. Women wearing sizes larger than 14 were recognized with the Laura-Piu` line, and children got Laura Biagiotti Junior.

Among the many licenses are Laura Biagiotti sunglasses, whose distinctive shapes have been seen on the faces of many famous women. Devoted to her family, Biagiotti has managed to combine work and home by basing her headquarters in the 15th century Castle Marco Simone, a former medieval fortress, located 17 kilometers from Rome, which she lovingly restored over more than five years. The four towers of the castle form the famous Biagiotti logo. In order to preserve the rolling landscape around her five acres, Biagiotti, with the permission of the nearby town Guidonia, created a golf club with a a residential area around her property which was inaugurated in December of 1993.

She was the first Italian designer to present a collection in China in April of 1988. In February, 1995, at the invitation of the Russian government, she staged a fashion show, the first ever, in the hallowed halls of the Kremlin, in the very same venue where the communist party held its congress every year, built by Nikita Kruschev. Thirty-eight Russian models paraded down the runway along with some of the west's top models to an enthusiastic audience. A Biagiotti boutique was opened in Moscow in 1994 and is very popular among the new rich of the city.

Benetton

Benetton is Europe's largest clothing manufacturer and the world's largest consumer of wool in the garment sector. It represents an Italian success story which begins in 1965 with a teenage Luciano Benetton deliveringhis sister Giuliana's handknit sweaters on his bicycle.. Soon he quit his job in a fabric store to start a business with her. They were later joined by their two younger brothers Gilberto and Carlo. In 1969 the Benettons opened their first store in Belluno and the year after in Paris. Today Luciano is the chairman and creative mind of the Benetton Group, Giuliana has total control of the design staff and the twice yearly collections, Gilberto is in charge of the company accounts and Carlo of production.

At the start, the Benetton business was confined to sweaters in classic colors. But Luciano decided to change things: he attracted the attention of the younger generation creating sweaters in bright, fun colors. His slogan became United Colors of Benetton. He also treated the wool to make it softer. And by making the garments and then dying them in bright colors according to demand and thereby providing faster delivery of desired product, Benetton took long strides ahead of the competition.

So if the demand is blue, Benetton dyes the majority of its colorless garments in that color to satisfy the desires of the public at a very short notice. Luciano Benetton's ability to identify such a market and fill it led to the company's incredible growth. Its stores sprung up like mushrooms all over the world. Today there are nine factories in different parts of the globe and over seven thousand sales outlets, present in one hundred countries including Eastern bloc ones. Benetton has been referred to as the McDonalds of the fashion industry. And the Benetton legend has become a textbook phenomena studied in business schools such as Harvard and Stanford.

Casual wear for men, women and children increased and the company diversified from its original woolen garments to cotton and denim. Then, during the 80s Benetton sunglasses, watches, bags, shoes, glove, hats, jewelry and even car parts appeared. Production of Benetton cosmetics also started and included a women's frangrance known as Colors of Benetton.

Organization, efficiency, clear image and effective advertising are all ingredients that led the Benetton name to fame. But not to be forgotten are some of the business' many faithful collaborators who have contributed to its success: the architects Tobia and Afra Scarpa, who designed the bright green prototype store, and Oliviero Toscani, mastermind of Benetton's powerful advertising campaigns and image guru.