Princess Irene Galitzine ( ka, ირინა გალიცინი; ; 22 July 1916 – 20 October 2006) was a Russian-Georgian fashion designer whose best known creation was the palazzo pyjama.

Early life

Princess Irene Galitzine was born in 1916 in Tiflis, Russian Empire (now

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, Georgia), to Prince Boris Galitzine (1878–1958), an official of the imperial guard who belonged to the aristocratic Galitzine family, whose origins date back to 1200, and a Georgian mother, Princess Nina Lazareff (Lazarashvili; 1888–1957). However, her family were forced to flee the country following the 1917

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, and took up residence in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Career

After studying art in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, English at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and French at the Sorbonne, Galitzine joined the Italian designers Sorelle Fontana in 1943Wilson, Eric (22 October 2006
"Princess Irene Galitzine Dies; Founder of a Fashion House"
''New York Times'' and worked with them for 3 years. In 1946, she opened her own salon and presented her first collection. In 1960, she achieved great success with the launch of her palazzo pyjamas which were wide legged evening trousers made of soft silk. Evening pyjamas became a firm fixture of the fashion scene during the 1960s. Currently, some of her original palazzo pyjama collection still exist in notable museums around the world including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London and the Costume Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1962, she was named Designer of the Year by the Italian fashion press. In 1965, she won the British Sunday Times International Fashion Award and was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Since then, her creations have been worn by some of the most famous women in the world such as Sofia Loren,

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Radziwill (; March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), previously known as Lee Canfield and Lee Ross, was an American socialite, public relations executive, and interior designer. She was the younger sister of former First Lady of the ...

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg, Queen Paola of Belgium, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, Duchess of Windsor, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari, Merle Oberon,

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...

, Hope Portocarrero, Marella Agnelli,

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

, Catherine Spaak, Pamela Churchill Harriman and

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938), known as Claudia Cardinale (), is an Italian actress. Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition ...

. In 1990, the Galitzine label was purchased by the Xines Company. She was subsequently sentenced to six months in jail for

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

. In September 1996, Galitizine opened her first boutique in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and in November of the same year she published her biography entitled ''From Russia to Russia''.

Personal life

Irene Galitzine was married in 1949 to Silvio Medici de Menezes, an aristocrat from Portugal. On 20 October 2006, she died at her home in Rome, aged 90. She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome.

References

Books

* Княжна Голицына – принцесса моды / Редакторы-составители Е.А. Скаммакка дель Мурго, М. Г. Талалай. — М.: ООО «Старая Басманная», 2019. – 212 с., XXXII с. ил. —

External links

Site of Princess Irene Galitzine

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galitzine, Irene 1916 births 2006 deaths Italian people of Georgian descent University of Paris alumni Businesspeople from Tbilisi Fashion designers from Rome Italian fashion designers Italian women fashion designers Russian women fashion designers Alumni of the University of Cambridge Irene Italian expatriates in France Italian expatriates in the United Kingdom Soviet emigrants to Italy Nobility from the Russian Empire