03 Jan Emilio Pucci

When you look back at the stellar career of the late Italian designer Emilio Pucci, it’s hard to imagine how this icon of the fashion and design industry managed it all. According to Wikipedia, Pucci was a member of the Italian olympic ski team of 1934 and in 1935 won a skiing scholarship to Reed College in Oregon. He first ventured into clothing design at Reed by creating the ski team’s uniforms. In 1947 he was photographed by Toni Frissell, a photographer working for Harper’s Bazaar, wearing skiwear Pucci had designed himself. Upon learning this, 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, the rest is fashion history.

Pucci became well known for his signature use of bright colours, bold patterns, and striking designs. Popular early creations were a line of wrinkle-free printed silk dresses. By the mid 50’s, Pucci was honored internationally, receiving the Neiman-Marcus Award in Dallas and the Burdine’s Sunshine Award in Miami. In 1959, Pucci decided to create a lingerie line. He was advised by his Roman atelier to develop the line abroad, avoiding the pitfalls associated with his first swimwear collection of 1949 which had difficulties in matching his colored patterns to the available fabrics. 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. 1959 was also a seminal year for Pucci since it was the year that he met Baronessa Cristina Nannini, a Roman baroness introduced to Pucci at his boutique in Capri. Pucci would later marry her, claiming: “I married a Botticelli”.

From 1954 to 1968 Pucci also designed stewardess uniforms for Braniff Airlines. 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.[2] 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.[3][4] He suggested the three bird motif for the design of the Apollo 15 mission patch.

In addition to his life of fashion, Pucci was elected to the Italian Parliament.While a Member of Parliament, Pucci was hired by New York ad agency Jack Tinker and Associates to re-design the hostess wardrobes for Braniff International Airways. Pucci would end up designing seven complete outfits for Braniff hostesses, pilots and ground crew between 1965 and 1977. Pucci incorporated Alexander Girard’s “BI” logo into some of his prints. After his death in 1992 his daughter, Laudomia Pucci, continued to design under the Pucci name.The Pucci brand was revived by the French firm Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy Group, who acquired the rights in 2000. Designers who have worked under the Pucci brand include Stephan Janson, Julio Espada and Christian Lacroix. In 2006, British designer, Matthew Williamson replaced Lacroix as creative director. Laudomia Pucci continues to serve as the Image Director.

His designs were always so virbant and rich with colors and shapes that would tend to make my mouth water. This was a man of genius, no one can compare. Take some time to check out his amazing web site emiliopucci.comI go wild everytime I see these killer boots! Stunning!