Artigianato & Palazzo

As Good as Bread

The dawn of Italian fashion

The Buontalenti icecream flavor

Pizza to your doorstep

La schiacciata

Discovering San Lorenzo

When business and beauty go hand in hand

Gerard Loft

Why Murano?

Gabs

Angela Caputi's Giuggiù

Old Florentine jewellery

il Bisonte

Collecting in Florence Art and Crafts

Ugo & Carolina

Furla

Furla

Where to shop?

Collecting in Florence

Riguccio Mulas

The dawn of Italian fashion
[Maddalena Delli]

In February 1951, a Florentine gentleman called Giovanni Giorgini took the first step towards making his dream come true: to "invent" Italian fashion and market it worldwide. He threw a party in his residence in Via dei Serragli. In the ballroom, dresses of the most important Italian ateliers were presented. Fresh from the Paris fashion shows, a few buyers and a selected number of journalists were present. It was an overnight success beyond the organizer's wildest expectations.

In July of the same year, a second show was held at the Grand Hotel; then in July 1952 Giorgini obtained permission to use the magnificent Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti for his fashion shows. Names such as Capucci, Valentino and Armani suddenly acquired worldwide notoriety, and the Made in Italy entered the world scene through the main door. Incidentally, to this day the Florentine fashion fairs are still called Pitti as a tribute to those first unforgettable shows in the Sala Bianca.


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