Emilio Pucci

For more information on Emilio Pucci, marquess di Barsento, visit Britannica.com.

A leading figure in Italian fashion in the 1950s and 1960s, Pucci studied for a year at the University of Milan. In 1935 he travelled to the United States where he also studied, returning to the University of Florence, from which he graduated in 1941. After the war, he gained attention as a fashionable designer of skiwear after being featured modelling his own designs in Harper's Bazaar in 1948. This was followed in 1949 with designs for hats, casual trousers, and shirts that further drew him to the attention of an affluent fashion-conscious clientele which reflected his own social background. In 1950 he opened his own couture house in Florence, increasingly gaining attention for colourful casual clothing. His clothes became highly fashionable on both sides of the Atlantic from the mid-1950s, with the establishment of a shop on Fifth Avenue, New York, and featured in Vogue. From 1964 to 1973 he also served as a Member of Parliament for Florence, a period which saw the emergence of a new, less elitist generation of Milan-based Italian designers such as Armani and Versace. However, in the 1990s there was a revival of interest in Pucci's designs (‘Puccimania’) exemplified in the Versace Collection of 1991 that derived closely from Pucci's work of the 1960s.

• Born: Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento in Naples, 20 November 1914.
• Education: Attended the University of Milan, 1933-35, University of Georgia, 1935-36, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 1936-37; M.A., 1937; Ph.D., University of Florence, 1941.
• Family: Married Cristina Nannini di Casabianca, 1959; children: Alessandro, Laudomia.
• Military Service: Bomber pilot in the Italian Air Force, 1938-42.
• Career: Oylmpic skier, 1934; women's skiwear designer, White Stag, for Lord & Taylor department store, 1948; freelance fashion designer, from 1949; first Pucci shop established in Capri, 1949, Rome, Elba, Montecatini, from 1950; president, Emilio Pucci SrL, Florence, and Emilio Pucci, New York, from 1950; vice-president for design/merchandising, Formfit International, 1960s; business run by family after death, 1992; daughter Laudomia assumed design duties; men's ties, swimwear reintroduced, 1998; new womenswear designed by Stephan Janson, 1998; majority share acquired by LVMH, 2000; launched website, 2001.
• Awards: Neiman Marcus award, 1954, 1967; Sports Illustrated award, 1955, 1961; Burdines Fashion award, 1955; the Sunday Times award, London, 1963; Association of Industrial Design award, Milan, 1968; Drexel University award, Philadelphia, 1975; Italy-Austria award, 1977; Knighthood, Rome, 1982; Medaille de la Ville de Paris, 1985; Council of Fashion Designers of America award, 1990.
• Died: 29 November 1992, in Florence, Italy.
• Company Address: Palazzo Pucci, via dei Pucci 6, Florence, Italy.
• Company Website:www.emiliopucci.com.

Rising out of the ashes of European fashion after World War II, Emilio Pucci brought a spectrum of carefree colors to the rationed continent. His sportswear beginnings lent a casual air to his work, a welcome relief from recent austerity and a new meaning to the term "resort wear." The swirling freestyle patterns and fluid fabrics he used became internationally recognized and desired, copied by many but rivaled by few.

American Tina Lesser may have been earlier with her hand-painted silks, but Pucci quickly made them his own, covering the fine lustrous fabric with optical fantasies of geometric shapes. His color range came straight from an Aegean horizon, turquoise and ultramarine set against sea green and lime, or hot fuchsia and sunflower yellow. Pucci swept away the repetitive sailor styles and tailored linens of cruisewear and brought in a new air of ease and luxury with his breezy separates. He capitalized on the lull in British and French couture after the war that benefitted many American and Italian designers, and dressed the fashionable mondaine in bold ready-to-wear.

The government-backed presentations of Italian designers of the late 1940s provided an aristocratic Florentine backdrop for Pucci's collections, which were soon internationally popular, and he became increasingly aware of the importance of the American market to his success. His characteristic style was best seen in slim-legged trousers in fruity shades, which provided a sexy foil to loose-hanging tunics and classic shirts left to hang outside the waistband.

His collections encompassed more than just stylish but jaunty daywear. In 1961 he showed simple evening dresses with deep V-shape panels set into their sophisticated bias-cut silhouette. Pucci saw his greatest success in the 1960s; his psychedelic-patterned printed silks were seen everywhere. They were, and continued to be worn by celebrities, from early clients Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy to Madonna, all seduced by the light touch of his designs.

As his reputation grew, Pucci's distinctive patterns were aspired to by many; a Pucci scarf or vivid silk handbag provided the cachet of luxury. His name was seen on everything from gloves to small ornaments, yet by the 1970s his work, like that of other big fashion houses, seemed less in tune with the times. During the 1980s, Pucci ranges seemed irrelevant to the weighty tailored severity that preoccupied the fashion world. It was not until the start of the 1990s that the pure whirling colors of the Pucci label (by then directed by his daughter, Laudomia) were again universally embraced. His signature shapes and vivid patterns had already inspired a generation of Italian designers, notably Gianni Versace and Franco Moschino, and in 1991 the reinvigorated Pucci look was everywhere. It had been translated into the modern essentials—clingy leggings, catsuits, and stretch polo necks which continued the sexy feel of his work and contrasted perfectly with his airy shirts. His clothes sold out across the world as a new, younger audience took up the label, perpetuating its popularity, albeit on a less high profile level after the initial Pucci mania earlier in the year.

The eclectic use of surface pattern and innovative color combinations distinguishing Pucci's work have been widely emulated throughout the fashion strata. His use of color added a feeling of movement to his clothes, while the quality fabrics enhanced the fluid line. The classic separates he designed continued to be successful, while the addition of newer styles ensured that the label would continue as a vibrant note to fashion in the later 1990s after Pucci's death in 1992.

A rebirth of Pucci's distinctive prints for men, including swimwear, sleepwear and ties, was scheduled to arrive in U.S. in 1998, but not before a new collection of womenswear debuted in Florence in January. At a time when original Pucci designs brought in premium prices at vintage shops, the reissue of menswear was inspired. The fall/winter womenswear line, however, grew out of different circumstances. "The whole idea started during the Biennial exhibition in Florence last fall," Laudomia Pucci, a company's director, told Women's Wear Daily in December 1997. The tribute, arranged by her mother Crista, had garnered so much attention the family decided to introduce a 50-piece collection, mostly for women, designed by Milan-based designer Stephan Janson. "We decided on Stephan Janson to do the collection because he's young, well-traveled, and well-cultured," Laudomia commented, and Janson "will be able to live well in the Pucci universe."

In the 21st century, change came to Pucci by way of new ownership. In Feburary 2000 luxury conglomerate LVMH bought a controlling stake in the firm and initiated a rehaul of the Pucci image. Four new Pucci stores opened in Milan, Portofino, St. Moritz, and Palm Beach, followed by a segue into home furnishings. Next came the appointment of Puerto Rican designer Julio Espada as artistic director (Laudomia was named Image Director), and in 2001 came the launch of a snazzy Pucci website.

The online Pucci forum blended archival photos with newer images, with collections past and present. Laudomia believed the mix of "classic and contemporary" was worthy of special notice. "I don't think any fashion house with a history has tried to convey that dimension to an online audience," she remarked to Women's Wear Daily in July 2001. "They focus solely on now." The "now" of Pucci may be firmly rooted in the past, but is securely focused on the future.

Publications

On Pucci:

Books
• Mulassano, Adriana, I mass-moda: fatti e personaggi dell'Italian Look, Florence, 1979.
• Aragno, B.G., editor, 40 Years of Italian Fashion [exhibition catalogue], Rome, 1983.
• Kennedy, Shirley, Pucci: A Renaissance in Fashion, New York,1986, 1991.
• Casadio, Mariuccia, Emilio Pucci, New York, 1998.

Articles
• Schiff, F., "If You Knew Pucci," in Interview, September 1974.
• "Founding Father of the Signature Print," in the Times (London), 1September 1976.
• Shields, Jody, "Pucci," in Vogue, May 1990.
• Hochswender, Woody, "Pucci Redux," in the New York Times, 8 May 1990.
• Porti, Anna Gloria, "Mai come adesso é Pucci," in Vogue (Milan),September 1990.
• Young, Lucie, "The New Pucci Coup: Psychedelic Swirls Back," inMetropolitan Home (London), December/January 1990-91.
• Morris, Bernadine, "Emilio Pucci, Designer of Bright Prints, Dies at78," in the New York Times, 1 December 1992.
• "Prince of Prints," [obituary] in People, 14 December 1992.
• "Emilio Pucci," [obituary] in Current Biography, January 1993.
• Goldstein, Lauren, "Pucci Adds New Punch to Spring Presentation," in DNR, 1 December 1997.
• Forden, Sara Gay, "Tribute to Pucci Leads to Birth of a Collection," inWWD, 22 December 1997.
• Braunstein, Peter, "Pucci Conquers Cyberspace," in WWD, 30 July 2000.
• Menkes, Suzy, "Pucci Picks an Eclectic Designer," in the International Herald Tribune, 31 October 2000.

— Rebecca Arnold; updated by Owen James

Emilio Pucci
Born	20 November 1914(1914-11-20)
Died	Florence
Residence	Florence
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Fashion designer
Labels	Emilio Pucci
Known for	Geometric prints

Emilio Pucci S.r.l.

Type	Private
Founded	Florence (1947)
Founder(s)	Emilio Pucci
Headquarters	Florence
Area served	Worldwide
Industry	Fashion
Products	Clothing, homewares
Revenue	$83.5 million (2008)
Owner(s)	LVMH (67%), Pucci family (?)
Employees	250
Website	www.emiliopucci.com

Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (November 20, 1914 – 29 November 1992) was a Florentine Italian fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Fashion career 3 Braniff and NASA 4 Political career 5 Pucci label 6 External links 7 Notes and references

Early life

Pucci was born in 1914 to one of Florence’s oldest noble families, and would live and work in the Pucci Palace in Florence for much of his life. He was a keen sportsman, who swam, skied, fenced, played tennis and raced cars.^[1] At the age of 17 he travelled to Lake Placid as part of the Italian team at the 1932 Winter Olympics,^[1] but did not compete.^[2]

After two years at the University of Milan,^[1] he studied agriculture at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, where he became a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society.^[3] In 1935 he won a skiing scholarship^{[citation needed]} to Reed College in Oregon, received an MA in social science from Reed^[1] in 1937, and was awarded his doctorate (laurea) in political science from the University of Florence the same year. In 1938^[3] he joined the Italian Air Force, and served as a bomber pilot during WWII, rising to the rank of captain^[1] and decorated for valour^[3] by the time he left to pursue his fashion career.

At Reed he was known as a staunch defender of the Fascist regime in Italy,^[3] and during the war he became a confidant of Mussolini's eldest daughter, Edda Ciano.^[3] Pucci played a key role in the plan to save her husband after his part in the downfall of Mussolini, delivering some of Count Ciano's papers to the Gestapo so that they could be bartered for Ciano's life.^[3] After Hitler vetoed the scheme, Pucci drove Edda to the Swiss border on 9 January 1944 and ensured her escape.^[3]

Fashion career

The first clothes designed by Pucci were for the Reed College skiing team.^[3] But his designs came to wider attention in 1947, when he was on leave in Zermatt, Switzerland. Skiwear that he had designed for a female friend was photographed by Toni Frissell, a photographer working for Harper's Bazaar. Frissell's editor asked Pucci to design skiwear for a story on European Winter Fashion, which ran in the winter 1948 issue of the Bazaar. Although there had been some experiments with stretch fabrics in Europe before the war, Pucci's sleek designs caused a sensation, and he received several offers from American manufacturers to produce them.^[1] Instead he left the Air Force and set up a haute couture house in the fashionable resort of Canzone del Mare on the Isle of Capri.

Initially he used his knowledge of stretch fabrics to produce a swimwear line in 1949, but soon moved onto other items such as brightly-coloured, boldly-patterned silk scarves. Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus encouraged him to use the designs in blouses and then a popular line of wrinkle-free printed silk dresses.^[1] Pucci added a boutique in Rome as business thrived, helped by Capri's role as a destination for the international jet set. By the early 50's, Pucci was achieving international recognition, receiving the Neiman-Marcus Award in Dallas and the Burdine's Sunshine Award in Miami. Marilyn Monroe was buried in one of his dresses, and his designs were worn by everyone from Sophia Loren to Jackie Kennedy.^[4]

In 1959, Pucci decided to create a lingerie line. His atelier in Rome advised him to develop the line abroad, avoiding the difficulties of a decade earlier in matching available fabrics to the patterns of his first swimwear line. As a result, Pucci came to Chicago giving the lingerie contract to Formfit-Rogers mills. The venture proved to be successful, and Pucci was made vice president in charge of design and merchandising for the company a year later. Also in 1959, Pucci was introduced to Baronessa Cristina Nannini, a Roman baroness, at his boutique in Capri. Pucci would later marry her, claiming: "I married a Botticelli". ^[5]

Braniff and NASA

In 1965, New York ad agency Jack Tinker and Associates was hired by Braniff International Airways to update their image. The agency's Mary Wells hired Alexander Girard to remodel the terminals, and Pucci to design new clothes for the hostesses.^[6] As the ads put it, it was "The End of the Plain Plane".

Pucci would end up designing seven complete outfits for Braniff hostesses, pilots and ground crew between 1965 and 1977.^{[citation needed]} A mark of his impact was that by 1968 Barbie had versions of all of his first four uniforms.^[6]These avant-garde creations were designed as individual components to be added or removed as weather dictated. The uniforms included turtlenecks, t-shirts, crop jackets and culottes.^[6] Among the more unusual innovations was a "bubble helmet" — a clear plastic hood worn by flight attendants between terminal building and aircraft to protect their hairdos from rain and the blast of jet engines.^[7] Pucci incorporated Girard's "BI" logo into some of his prints.

Pucci's influence extended to the Moon. He suggested the three bird motif for the design of the Apollo 15 mission patch,^[4] although the crew replaced his blues and greens with a more patriotic red, white and blue.

Political career

In addition to his work in fashion, Pucci contested the Florence–Pistoia district for the Italian Liberal Party in the Italian election of April 1963. He came second on their slate with 2,780 votes behind Vittorio Fossombroni, but the party only won one seat.^[8] However he succeeded Fossombroni in the Italian Chamber of Deputies in August of that year.^[3] He retained his seat in the 1968 election, but lost it in the 1972 election,^[9] despite being the district's top PLI candidate with 4,231 votes.^[10]

Pucci label

After Emilio's death in 1992 his daughter, Laudomia Pucci, continued to design under the Pucci name. The French Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy Group luxury goods empire acquired 67% of Pucci in 2000.^[4] Laudomia became Image Director, whilst LVMH brought in major designers such as Christian Lacroix (creative director 2002-5), and in October 2005, Matthew Williamson^[4] and Peter Dundas from 2009. Other designers who have worked for the label include Stephan Janson and Julio Espada.

Emilio Pucci clothes and accessories are sold through Emilio Pucci and Rossignol boutiques worldwide and in high-end department stores, mostly feature the designer's original brightly coloured, often swirly, prints or new designs in his original distinct style. The fashion house produces ready-to-wear clothes and accessories for women, in addition to a small range of men's accessories. In the past, the house has produced a more comprehensive range of men's wear, including a line in partnership with Ermenegildo Zegna, which included men's jackets lined with Pucci printed fabric, especially for American department store Saks Fifth Avenue.

A limited-edition Pucci carrying case for the PlayStation Portable handheld gaming system was marketed by Sony as a high-end accessory on their PlayStation Signature line. ^[11]

Pucci boutiques in the U.S. are located in New York, Las Vegas, Bal Harbour, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, Boston, and South Coast Plaza.

External links

• www.emiliopucci.com Official Site
• FlyBraniff.com History of Braniff International Airlines, including the Pucci uniforms and some promotional films
• Sewing patterns by Pucci
• Pucci since 1948 Photos of Pucci designs through time, including Poppi de Salis wearing one of the original ski suits
• Pucci 2000-2007 Photos of some recent Pucci designs

Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Morris, Bernadine (1992), "Emilio Pucci, Designer of Bright Prints, Dies at 78", New York Times, 1992-12-01, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D8173FF932A35751C1A964958260, retrieved 2008-04-22  Not as reliable as it should be - for instance, it gets his political career all wrong.
2. ^ III Olympic Winter Games Committee; ed. Lattimer, George M. (1932), III Olympic Winter Games, Lake Placid, 1932 Official Report, Lake Placid, New York, USA, p. 275, http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf, retrieved 2008-04-22 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} McGaw Smyth, Howard (1969). "The Ciano Papers: Rose Garden". Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/docs/v13i2a16p_0015.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-23. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Attolico, Eleonora (2007), "Buon compleanno maison Pucci 60 anni di moda innovativa", L'espresso (Rome), 2007-05-16, http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Buon-compleanno-maison-Pucci-60-anni-di-moda-innovativa/1611724, retrieved 2008-04-23  (Italian)
5. ^ Settembrini, Luigi; Katell Le Bourhis, Stefania Ricci (1996), Emilio Pucci (Florence Biennale), Skira Editore, ISBN 9788881181766 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Jacobs, Laura, "stewardesses", 2wice (East Hampton, NY: 2wice Arts Foundation, Inc.) 2 (2): 26–33, 1998, http://web.archive.org/web/20021219051134/http://www.2wice.org/issues/uniform/stew.html, retrieved 2002-12-19 Good overview of how Wells and Pucci transformed the image of stewardesses
7. ^ "Braniff Airlines flight attendant uniforms by Pucci and Halston". http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloggy/164211997/. Retrieved 2008-04-23. Photo of bubble helmet. Flickr photos can usually be used on Wikipedia, if someone wants to display it here
8. ^ "Elezioni della Camera dei Deputati del 28 Aprile 1963 Circoscrizione: FIRENZE-PISTOIA". Ministry of the Interior, Italy. http://elezionistorico.interno.it/candidatodilista.php?tp=C&dt=28/04/1963&cta=I&tpEnte=I&tpSeg=C&numEnte=14&sut1=&sut2=&sut3=&descEnte=%20Circoscrizione:%20FIRENZE-PISTOIA&descArea=&numLista=2&descLista=PLI. Retrieved 2008-04-23. (Italian)
9. ^ "Forward to the Past", TIME, 1972, 1972-05-22, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879081,00.html, retrieved 2008-04-23 
10. ^ "Elezioni della Camera dei Deputati del 7 Maggio 1972 Circoscrizione: FIRENZE-PISTOIA". Ministry of the Interior, Italy. http://elezionistorico.interno.it/candidatodilista.php?tp=C&dt=07/05/1972&cta=I&tpEnte=I&tpSeg=C&numEnte=14&sut1=&sut2=&sut3=&descEnte=%20Circoscrizione:%20FIRENZE-PISTOIA&descArea=&numLista=6&descLista=PLI. Retrieved 2008-04-23. (Italian)
11. ^ PlayStation Signature accessories, among which an Emilio Pucci case was sold.

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Persondata
NAME	Pucci, Emilio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Fashion designer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	1914-11-20
PLACE OF BIRTH	home town alabama/ i need more info nd ot bored x
DATE OF DEATH	1992-11-29
PLACE OF DEATH	Florence

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