Vincenzo Ferdinandi (29 November 1920 - 22 April 1990) was an Italian designer among the founders of Italian
haute couture.
Biography
Born in the United States, he moved to Italy in the early 1950s to open an atelier in Rome in the fashionable
Via Veneto
Via Vittorio Veneto (), colloquially called Via Veneto, is one of the most famous, elegant, and expensive streets of Rome, Italy. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918), a decisive Italian victory of World War I. Federico F ...
.
He was among the first great haute couture designers to compete with the French in the international arena. In 1949 he was in Paris, called by
Christian Dior for a stylistic collaboration with the French maison. After that experience, London also called him to design a line of shoes that he completed with creativity and all-Italian creativity
Together with other names of the Italian fashion of the time such as
Roberto Capucci
Roberto Capucci (born December 2, 1930 in Rome) is an Italian fashion designer.
Biography
Capucci attended art school at Accademia di Belle Arti, where he studied with the artists Mazzacurati, Avenali, and Libero De Libero.
In 1950, he opened ...
, the
Sartoria Antonelli, the atelier Carosa, Giovannelli-Sciarra,
Germana Marucelli, Polinober, the Sartoria Vanna and
Jole Veneziani, he participated in 1952 in the first historical parade at the Sala Bianca in
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
. A very young
Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution ...
sent by the weekly
''Epoca'' told the news
In 1953, together with other major names of the time (including
Emilio Schuberth, the
Sorelle Fontana, Alberto Fabiani, Jole Veneziani, Giovannelli-Sciarra, Mingolini-Guggenheim, Eleonora Garnett, Simonetta), he founded the SIAM -
Italian High Fashion Syndicate (later to become the
National Chamber of Italian Fashion
The National Chamber of Italian Fashion (Italian: ''Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana'') is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is the promotion, coordination of the Italian fashion industry and the training of young Italian designers.
...
).
In July 1954, together with the Sorelle Fontana, Emilio Schuberth, Giovannelli Sciarra, Garnett and Mingolini-Guggenheim he took part in "Alta Moda in
Castel Sant'Angelo".
On that occasion, the American
Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland (born October 31, 1941) is an American film, television and stage actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 fi ...
, Fashion Editor of
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
and of
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
, was awarded for her role as ambassador of Italian fashion in the United States.
Defying the conventions of the time (it was in the early fifties), he is the first to show an afro-American girl in a fashion parade, the young model Dolores Francine Rhiney. His creations are worn by actresses and famous women of those years.
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned over five decades, she was nominated ...
,
May Britt,
Virna Lisi Verna or Virna may refer to:
People
* Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books
* Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress
* Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter
* Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian reti ...
,
Sylva Koscina,
Isabella Albonico,
Eloisa Cianni,
Lucia Bosè
Lucia Bosè (28 January 1931 – 23 March 2020) was an Italian actress.
Life and career
Lucia Bosè was born in Milan to Francesca Borloni and Domenico Bosè. After a number of years working in a bakery, Pasticceria Galli, in her native city, ...
, Lilli Cerasoli,
Ivy Nicholson, Loredana Pavone, Joe Patterson, Anna Maria Ghislanzoni, Marta Marzotto and a very young
Elsa Martinelli
Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model.
Life and career
Born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany, she moved to Rome with her family. In 1953, she was discovered by Roberto Capu ...
are some of these
In 2014, the Maxxi museum in Rome as part of the "Bellissima" exhibition numbers him among the pioneers of Italian fashion
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Ferdinandi Alta Moda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferdinandi, Vincenzo
1920 births
1990 deaths
Fashion designers from Rome
People from Newark, New Jersey
American emigrants to Italy