History of Italian fashion
From the Middle Ages, Italian fashion has been popular internationally, with cities in Italy producing textiles like velvet, silk, and wool.
[1][2] The cities of Venice, Milan, Florence, Palermo, Naples, and Rome produced textiles such as velvet, silk, and wool.
[3] Italian fashion grew in popularity and influence across Europe, and was preferred by one of the most powerful families in Italy, the Medicis of Florence.
Unlike the men's, the women's giornea covered their feet, and originally evolved from the houppelande (a long, full-skirted gown with a high collar).
Popular accessories for the hair: During the Italian Renaissance, men wore large, fitted waistcoats underneath pleated overcoats called giornea, which had wide, puffy mutton sleeves and were often made from brocade.
Men typically wore an overcoat called a cioppa, which had lining of a different color than the main fabric, a defining feature of fashion during the Italian Renaissance.
Men and women wore outer clothes with detachable and often slashed sleeves of varied designs.
Merchants expanded the market for apparel, and created complementary accessories such as hats, hairnets, bags, and gloves.
The widespread use of mirrors, popular in Renaissance interior design and architecture, increased interest in self-image and fashion.
The bonnet is a small, round or squared, brimless cap that was usually red or black and made of felt or velvet.
The decorations used for the beret were usually white, in untrimmed ostrich, peacock, marabou and wool imitation, and plumes.
While white remained as the pope's biretta color, scarlet was accepted by the Cardinals, purple by the bishops, and black by the clerics.
Some of the first modern Italian fashion designers, such as Bulgari, Prada, Gucci, and Ferragamo, were founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Three major production centers in the wool industry started to develop in Italy: Veneto, Piedmont, and Tuscany.
In the Biella area of Piedmont surged some of the most recognized fabric manufacturers, such as Piacenza, Reda, Rivetti, Zegna, Sella, and Loro Piana.
Italy adopted American methods of production and took advantage of preexisting connections between Italian tailors that emigrated to the United States.
[13] Prior to his soirées in 1951 to 1953, Italy had begun exporting luxury fashion goods and handbags to other nations, including the United States.
[11] Unlike other countries leading the fashion industry, Italian lacked a center associated with a national style.
[10] In the 1960s, the handbags produced by the designer Gucci drew the attention of celebrities such as Grace Kelly, Peter Sellers, Audrey Hepburn and the First Lady of the United States, Jackie Kennedy.
Florence was Italy's fashion capital in the 1950s and 1960s, and Milan in the 1970s and 1980s, with Versace, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana opening up their first boutiques there.
Many celebrities, such as Beyoncé, Axl Rose, Elton John, Naomi Campbell, Elizabeth Hurley, Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham, Madonna, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Alexandra Burke, Christina Aguilera, and even Diana, Princess of Wales,[16] were clients of Italian fashion designers.
Milan and Rome are important internationally in the fashion industry, along with Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, Paris and New York.
