Fashion, Italian Style

Valentino: Helping Superstars Look the Part Valentino Garavani is one of Italy's finest fashion designers. Known for his classic designs, he's been dressing the world’s rich and famous for almost the last five decades. Valentino has built his once small fashion house into a fashion empire, with a little help from his partner in business, Giancarlo Giammetti. Valentino dresses are a legend today. 

With his trademark "V", Valentino has designed haute couture fashion, and made it the passion of beautiful people all over the world. He has dressed such stars as Sophia Loren, Greta Garbo,Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Halle Berry. Jacqueline Onassis and Princess Diana have worn his clothes. People will rarely see a red-carpet event without seeing one of Valentino's characteristically elaborate yet elegant designs.

Gwyneth Paltrow,Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford Valentino Garavani's life began in Italy in 1932 in a small town north of Milan. Even as a child, Valentino had an eye for fashion and often dressed in only the finest of clothing. Valentino also had a desire to become a fashion designer, an extraordinary designer, a dream that he took with him to Paris to study fashion design. He was barely seventeen years old. While in Paris, Valentino studied under some of the world's best in fashion. Starting with Jean D

esses as an apprentice and continuing on under Guy Laroche, Valentino quickly learned what it takes to be one of the best. It wasn't long before Valentino decided to try and build his own fashion house. Valentino left Paris and opened his own fashion studio in Rome in the late 1950's. Naming the fashion house Valentino, after himself, he began to design for his first fashion show. In 1962, Valentino completed his first runway fashion show. It was with the tremendous success of this show that the fashion world first began to take notice of Valentino and his designs. His house was on its way to becoming an empire. His black and white gowns became ultra-fashionable, and remain so to this day.

Valentino also created the Valentino Rosso, the patented crimson color. The Valentino crimson gowns are now the brand's hallmark. 

His greatest success came in 1967 when Valentino launched his White Collection. This show and his designs drew critical acclaim. When bold and funky colors were all the rage, Valentino took a risk and used shades of whites to design his entire collection.

The show was a wild success. This collection gave him the Nieman Marcus award in design. Valentino's house saw unprecedented success in the aftermath.One of his most famous clients, Jacqueline Kennedy, requested that Valentino design the dress for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis. The year was 1968, the dress a white lace mini. Valentino's design was seen all over the world, on magazine covers everywhere. 

His house had now reached iconic status.In the 1970's Valentino began designing his ready-to-wear collection for both men and women. He opened boutiques with his ready-to-wear collection in both Milan and Rome. Valentino continued to design, not just dresses, but also ties, accessories, shirts and jeans. The success story grew in strength with a perfume and interior de'cor line. Valentino had truly become fashion's "It" man.

It was in 1989 that Valentino expanded his empire with boutique chain openings in the United States and Japan. Since then, dressing the bold, the beautiful, and the uber-rich in luxurious clothing all over the world has become the brand’s main preoccupation.

Valentino's designs through the years have remained romantic, just like he prefers. Throughout the years, Valentino has continued to make romantic, lovely and fashionable designs that speak to women of all ages. Valentino believes that details should be minimal and that the cut of the dress is the most important. His dresses are flawlessly designed, and have remained so for over forty years. 

Valentino has since broadened his empire throughout the world, including the Middle East, Europe and Asia. In 1998 Valentino and Giammetti sold the company to HdP, which in turn sold it to Marzotto Apparel, a Milan-based textile conglomerate in 2002.In 2005, Valentino was awarded the Superstar award at the Fashion Group International Night of the Stars, by one of his favorite red carpet clients: Meryl Streep. In 2006, Valentino did a small cameo role as himself in the hit movie The Devil Wears Prada, for which he also designed some of the costumes. -

  

Valentino: A Scene from Devil Wears Prada. In 2006 Valentino was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. The year after, he celebrated 45 years in the business, and announced his retirement for 2008. His last Haute Couture presentation was held Paris at the Musée Rodin in January 2008, and he will be followed by designer Alessandra Facchinetti, who was the former designer at the House of Gucci. Valentino remains a firm believer of a celebrity always dressing the role of a celebrity, regardless of the day.

"Today, every famous woman is called a diva. But here is a true one, in the best sense of the word. Sophia comes from a time when actresses behaved like movie stars from the moment they got up till they turned off the light at night. You would never see them looking less than perfect-no pictures of Sophia going to the supermarket! Like the day we christened my boat. We asked Sophia to come; you always want a woman to do it, for luck. It was 10 A.M., and she showed up like she was going to a world premiere of her latest film. It may be a little unreal.

But I love it." -

Valentino at His Last Haute Couture Collection Though he was not an innovator, Valentino has taken fashion to new heights by designing glorious, opulent, and timeless clothing for some of the most glamorous women of the 20th and 21st centuries. His contribution to the world of fashion would continue to be acclaimed in the years to come. - 

 

 Italian Fashion: Dolce Gabbana

Elegance is in the Italian blood, and most Italians would unhesitatingly give up comfort in order to achieve it. Italy is a nation that cherishes outward appearances. Yes, it is great if you have a good heart, but Italians would expect you to have well-groomed hair, an impeccable sense of dressing and a really neat pair of shoes besides. So it is no wonder that some of the world's best sartorial artists are from Italy.

Starting from one of the pioneers of modern fashion, Elsa Schiaparelli, to the modern czar of extravagant opulence, Roberto Cavalli Italian fashion has had it all. Italian men and women have had some of the best fashion visionaries watching over what they wear; be it clothes, perfume, shoes, jewelry or hair, for almost all of the last century.

The privileged Italians have had names like Brioni and Zegna look after their work wear, and the house of Valentino to call upon when they needed clothes for that real special occasion. Armani has been at hand, letting Italians know that they can be subdued yet elegant, as has the house of Versace which has given a new meaning to glamor. Diesel is a world conqueror in a category all its own, and the likes of Prada, Missioni, Ferragamo, Ferre, Bottega Veneta, Damiani and Bvlgari are discussed in hushed tones of awe in fashion circles across the world.

                          

 Gianni Versace and Roberto Cavalli, who have taken Italian style in an entirely different, over-the-top direction. Italian style today is an amalgam of various streams of fashion, of the Italian love for quality and durabilty, the desire to look alla moda, and a continuous search for newness and fresh images. Life in Italy examines Italian style, charisma, and chutzpah, and how it has affected the world of Italian fashion. -  

The designs of Dolce & Gabbana draw inspiration primarily from Mediterranean colors and culture. The clothes are not rigid or unyielding, but instead cheerful and sensual, bringing into fashion mainstream silhouettes and fashions like satin corset bodies, black hold-up stockings and fishnets, which were so far only part of cabarets and exotic clubs.

The post-feministic women who are confident in their own abilities and not afraid to appear sexy have lapped up the Dolce and Gabbana creations in lace, silk and wool. Both men put everything into the work they undertake, imbuing it with a sort of passion and dedication that has helped them create a multi-million dollar fashion empire.

They make their own paper models, prototypes and accessories; they follow their sales and shows very closely, as well as their public relations and advertising campaigns. Theirs is a "hands on" business in the truest sense of the word. - 

The Dolce and Gabanna Brand, Italy Over time as the business grew in size, the designers found it necessary to move their operations to a larger showroom, which they did in 1987. Another major success came for Dolce & Gabbana in 1988 when they signed an agreement with the Onward Kashiyama Group and began distributing their designs in Japan. This allowed them to break into a relatively untapped fashion market, up to that point.

Their first knitwear designs were launched the previous year and in 1989 they came out with their very first lingerie and beachwear outfits, closely followed by a menswear collection in 1990. To say they were on a roll was an understatement. Further agreements were signed to design the Complice line for the Genny group. But it didn't stop there- following on the heels of their agreements was the boutiques they established, first in Milan, then in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and Seoul.

Diesel Jeans: Italian Fashion at Its Edgiest

And for the everyday lives of stylish Italians, there has been the eponymous Zara, and countless other names strewn across Italian cities that continue to take pride in making men and women beautiful. Hollywood has paid homage to Italians and their sense of dressing: for the past few decades most of the glitterati on the red carpets are clad and bedecked in clothes and jewelry made in Italy.

Fashion is almost a national passion, and to see the latest trends one need only glance around the various piazzas, restaurants and streets. Interestingly, these are trends worn to show off the best of the wearer, and imperceptibly conceal any flaws: individual Italians for the most part follow trends that suit them. Besides, few fashion conscious Italians would go for something trendy that is not also durable, classic and genuine.

A svelte Italian woman striding down the cobbled streets in the latest ultra-high wedges without missing a step, hair flying in the breeze, epitomizes an attitude almost all Italians have: of dressing with care and confidence, but seeming artless. And this attitude can only be achieved through a tradition of seduction and refinement handed down through generations.

Italians love to show off, but mostly in an individualistic, understated way: while their clothes fit, they still allow room for sensual movement.
For Italians, it is not about clothes at all. Italian fashion is actually all about an attitude; an attitude of custom-made, fluid, sophistication.