important position for Italy in the world of fashion. However, unlike France,
which views fashion as a form of art, Italy’s outlook on fashion is more as a
traditional business developed through a lifetime and passed through genera-
tions. In France, fashion and creativity is an obsession and a soubriquet of
expression embedded in the genes. In Italy, fashion is both a lifestyle and a
means to a lifestyle and culture.
Italy had a prominent position in global fashion during the Roman Empire
and the Renaissance era. However, this diminished after the fall of the
Venetian Empire in 1797 and the subsequent political unsettlement, giving
way for the rise of France and later England in fashion. As a result, several
talented Italian designers left their country in search of fortune in France and
later in America. By the eighteenth century, Italian women like the rest of the
Europeans had begun to adopt French fashion while Italian men adopted
English tailoring, further demoting Italian fashion. Consequently by the early
nineteenth century, Italian fashion had almost disappeared and had been
nearly completely replaced by French haute couture. It took almost a century
before Italian fashion was to become world-renowned once more.
The brands that launched the Italian fashion revolution on Italian soil in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are Prada, Ermenegildo Zegna,
Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo, while Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace and
Dolce & Gabanna carried it forward. The first internationally recognized
Italian designer was, however, Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) who became
famous after opening her couture house in Paris. Later, in 1906, Guccio Gucci
started his saddlery shop in Florence and expanded to fashion accessories in
- Ermenegildo Zegna followed Gucci’s launch in 1912, with menswear
fabrics in the small village of Trivero. Salvatore Ferragamo launched his busi-
ness in 1927. He was born in Italy in 1898 and emigrated to the USA in 1914
where he studied shoe design and started a flourishing business in California
before returning to Italy to set up a workshop in Florence.
The fashion businesses of these talented Italian designers quickly gained
world fame. Italian accessories, especially shoes, became popular and
synonymous with style, class and high quality all over the world. Although
Italian accessories flourished, fashion remained predominated by the dress
and this was mostly made in France. As a result, Italian designers focused
their attention on exports to America, rather than on developing a home fash-
ion sector. As early as the 1920s, Americans were getting exposed to Italian
fashion and its appealing associations to European aristocracy. Italy was also
an attractive tourist destination for Americans with its beautiful landscape and
seductive lifestyle. This combination served as an important formula for the
success of Italian fashion abroad.
The Italian government also recognized the important role of fashion in resus-
citating its economy and engineered reforms to favour the growth of fashion. For
example, Italian leader Benito Mussolini’s government established a National
Fashion Office in Turin to promote the Italian fashion industry. However, the
chapter 2 39the history of luxury fashion branding