Italian Genius

Italians are born with a innate sense of style; whether the fashion-forward designers are launching a new look or re-evoking timeless classics styles the entire population seems to understand what so many others don’t: Looking great takes no effort whatsoever.

So many different Italian fashion houses and their designers have shaped the way we look at fashion today. Since the turn of the century, attention to quality fabrics, skilled tailoring and bespoke creations set Italian fashion apart from its neighbourly counterparts. Most of all, designers with the greatest longevity have had the best success. Classic fashion houses such as Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermernigildo Zegna and Cerruti all started as family owned companies that not only created the primary elements in fashion, they then transformed those hand-woven fabrics and silks, and high-quality leather goods into the wearable pieces of art they are today.

New faces such as Pucci, Giorgio Armani, Dolce e Gabbana, Prada, Versace and Cavalli threw modernism and wild interpretations into the Italian sense of style. Each with its own breed of imagination and colourful palate, these designers re-worked and re-created modern Italian fashion for every different facet of the spectrum.

Contributing Editors to Artviva: Sarah Bernstein and Rose Magers

www.italy.artviva.com