Pucci, Emilio

(1914-1992)

   Pucci was born the Marchese di Barsento a Cavallo in Naples, Italy, to an aristocratic family. Pucci was educated first at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and then at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he went on a skiing scholarship. He then completed his doctorate in political science at the University of Florence, graduating in 1941. Pucci's fashion career arose out of his love of skiing as he had been a member of the Italian Olympic Ski Team in 1934 and designed his own ski clothes. In 1947, Toni Frissel, a Harper's Bazaar photographer, took pictures of Pucci wearing his own skiwear while skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland. The photos were shown to the head buyer at Lord & Taylor, Marjorie Griswold, who asked him to design them for the store, and to Harper's Bazaar fashion editor, Diana Vreeland, who featured them in the magazine in 1948.

   Pucci opened a boutique in 1950 on the Isle of Capri and is credited with creation of the Capri pants. He is best known for his colorful engineered prints that offer multicolor swirling, often geometric, kaleidoscopic patterns. Pucci has been dubbed the "Prince of Prints." His participation in the first Italian Designers fashion show in 1951, at the Pitti Palace in Florence, gained him the attention of high-end retailers Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, who not only loved his fitted silk jersey shirts and Capri pants, but his aristocratic roots. Pucci won the coveted Neiman Marcus Award, once in 1954 and again in 1967. At the insistence of Marjorie Griswold, Pucci signed his name, Emilio, to all of his print designs to differentiate his work from the numerous copies. In addition to his fashion career, Pucci was also a well-known fascist and was elected to the Italian Parliament in 1965.

   Between 1965 and 1977, Pucci created flight attendant uniforms for Braniff Airways and in 1974, for Quantas Airways. Pucci's signature style was easily recognizable and was sought after by famous women including Marilyn Monroe, who was actually buried in a Pucci. By the early 1970s, the Pucci look began to fade but came back into style in the early 1990s. Upon Pucci's death in 1992, his daughter, Laudomia, and his wife, Cristina, took the helm. In 2000, the French conglomerate Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton (LVMH) acquired the rights and hired designer Julio Espada and later Christian Lacroix. In the same year, Pucci was awarded the Fashion Excellence award from the International Apparel Mart in Dallas. In 2006, British designer Matthew Williamson took over as creative director with Laudomia as image director.