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.