fashion influence of Italy was not to rise to its Renaissance-era glory until the
mid-1940s, although the country maintained its rich art and cultural heritage.
Before 1945, Italy’s economic mainstay was primarily agriculture-based
and this was a challenge to the country’s economy. The adverse effects of the
Second World War further worsened the economy, and as a result the indus-
trial production of fashion goods and innovation in couture and dressmaking
remained minimal. The climate of a thriving social and economic structure
which fashion needs in order to flourish was lacking. While Paris boomed as
the world’s fashion destination, Italian cities like Rome, Florence and Milan
remained largely unappealing.
An additional factor that contributed to the slow growth of Italian fashion
influence is that Italy had no constant and representative fashion capital city
like Paris in France and London in Britain. Although Florence, Rome and
Milan were (and still remain) important fashion centres, each region of Italy
has always specialized in a specific type of fashion production. Florence has
long been associated with woollen clothing; Sicily was the centre of artistic
weaving while Lucca and Venice were known for silk textile and Venice the
centre of shoemakers and cobblers, leatherworks, silk and cotton weavers,
wool spinners and dyers.
One major contributing factor to the growth of Italian fashion was the Nazi
occupation of Paris during the Second World War which disrupted the leading
position of French fashion. During this period, America was again to play an
important role in the take-off of Italian fashion. The post-war mass migration
from Italy to America meant an export of Italian fashion style and culture and
later an import of American ready-to-wear business and technology back to
Italy. The peculiar family-orientation nature of the Italian fashion industry
meant that every skill and technology learnt was passed from generation to
generation. The effective blending of this family-oriented Italian craftsman-
ship with America’s commercial orientation towards fashion would later serve
as a backdrop for the success of several brands including Versace and Tod’s.
Although Gucci and Ferragamo were the forerunners of Italian fashion, the
Italian look as we know it today was pioneered by Giorgio Armani and Gianni
Versace in the 1970s. Their ease of style and elegance was the opposite of the
French opulence and greatly appealed to fashion consumers worldwide. They
also highlighted the important complementary role of accessories like shoes,
jewellery and sunglasses. The rapidly rising Italian designers effectively drew
on the fame of their heritage of precision and craftsmanship and the renown
of their accessories. Americans completely embraced this style while the
French admired and respected it. The fashion world had changed and Italy
contributed to the way the new world looked.
Italy flourishes today as a country of not only beauty but of immense fash-
ion style and influence. The majority of the world’s most valuable luxury fash-
ion brands are from Italy and numerous other Italian fashion brands continue to
gain fashion authority globally. Although the Italian fashion model is different40
luxury fashion branding