Versace, Valentino, Armani, Ferre: the four giants of Italian fashion (Italian fashion was not and is not made up solely of them; there are many other excellent names) who brought prestige and taught the style of elegance expressed through ingenuity and innovation as a distinctive feature of excellence.
As of today, all four are in the Olympus of history.
Surely they were not saints, not at all... but honour must be given to the art they expressed.
This photo was taken by Adriana Mulassano, who in 1985 brought together the most prominent figures in fashion at that time.The names of the people are:
Laura Biagiotti, Mario Valentino, Gianni Versace, Krizia, Paola Fendi, Valentino Gravani, Gianfranco Ferrè, Milla Schon, Giorgio Armani, Ottavio Missoni, Franco Moschino, Luciano Soprani
But Italian fashion is not just about them... Would you like to know who is one of the oldest jacket fabric manufacturers in the world? Vitale Barberis Canonico has been producing fabrics and jackets since 1663... an Italian name from Piedmont (300 years before Armani or Valentino, etc.). The oldest jewellery shop in the world? (meaning a “classic” commercial activity) Mellerio dits Meller, since 1613, a family from Piedmont (Italy) who moved to Paris... (which offered its works to the Queen of France, Catherine de Medici... a member of the Florentine family) and so we could move on to the world of shoes... perfumes with “Santa Maria Novella” since 1221 or E.Marinella ties... or hat manufacturers... to many other tailors in southern Italy such as Cesare Atollini, etc., etc... italian style.
I would like to add one thing... These fashion giants are not idyllic companies... this has been known for a long time, and recently an Italian investigative television programme called Report has been bringing to light all the criminal behaviour that these companies engage in, using systems based on non-verification of production processes. Producing a bag, an item of clothing or a shoe costs the Chinese company that manufactures in Italy around €50... You buy it for €500 or €5,000/€8,000 per bag, etc., etc...
For those companies, you customers are idiots, happy to be treated like idiots, and you pay to be treated that way.
PS: Obviously, not all of these companies' products are manufactured by Chinese companies in Italy or by Italian companies that behave like Chinese companies, but there are some products from these companies that are manufactured in-house by the companies themselves or by other companies that manufacture with respect for people's lives and where the production cost is higher, at €100/150 or even more per item. When you go to these shops, remember this.
