Ferdinandi, the dream of reviving the fashion of the Dolce Vita

Back to the Milano Fashion Week dedicated to women's fashion and there is a desire to rediscover the suit, a garment that has made the history of female style. Practical, comfortable, functional, elegant and seductive, status symbol of a career woman, of the powerful manager, emblem of female emancipation. A garment loved and built in the mind and heart of Vincenzo Ferdinandi, among the founders of high fashion in Italy alongside Christian Dior (with whom he collaborated in 1949), Emilio Schuberth, the Sorelle Fontana, Giovannelli-Sciarra and many others. A lot has changed since then, unfortunately Ferdinandi in 1980 disappeared and his fashion house was closed, but his soul and his teaching made up of two words like "charm and freedom" are in the mind of son Ferdinando who just from Milano he decided to leave again. «My dream is to remember my father first of all with a book I'm writing, full of vintage photographs, and then perhaps with an exhibition or an important event. But it would be nice to revive it again in the ABiti – confessed Ferdinando Ferdinandi, today a style icon and creator of the well-known “Al Fresco” restaurant in via Savona – among dad's memories I found the original models of some suits and I'm trying to re-propose them by updating them; a very complicated and long operation." Today it is just a dream that is slowly being rebuilt, but it is not excluded that we will soon see them parading on the catwalks. But who was Ferdinando Ferdinandi? Born in New York to Italian parents in the 20s, he returned to Italy after the war and established himself as a stylist. He works in Paris with Dior and then opens a high fashion house in Via Veneto right in the period of Rome's Dolce Vita. He became one of the masters of fashion of the 50s and 60s, the one who Vogue USA defined as an international "star tailor" and who, after the first historic fashion show in 1952 at Palazzo Pitti, was consecrated among the greats thanks to the news of a young Oriana Fallaci sent by weekly Epoca. He was the first to show a black model in a white suit and it was appreciated. The Ferdinandi suit, with a linear and innovative cut, was immediately loved in Italy and abroad and became the protagonist of the fashion magazines that dedicated their covers to the designer, including Marie Claire, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar. There were many actresses and models of his time who wore his designs: from Lucia Bosè to Joe Patterson, from Marta Marzotto, to Elsa Martinelli who was "discovered" by maestro Ferdinandi, from Virna Lisi, to Sylva Koscina, and others Still. Today Ferdinando Ferdinandi speaks with great passion and talks about his father's artistic life with admiration, with numerous anecdotes that link his name to famous fashion and entertainment figures of his time, and which will be reported in the book he is writing. «My father had an enchanted veneration for women and I believe this is exactly what he ultimately left me as a legacy – he says – I also believe, always suggested by him, that charm and femininity, hidden in everyone, must be re-revealed. Today more than ever. Just like kissing the hand, an 'ancient' and very graceful gesture that binds me to him every time I put my lips close to a lady's hand." Among the anecdotes is the second edition of Palazzo Pitti, in the famous Sala Bianca, when Ferdinandi was the first to decide to show off a black mannequin, Dolores Francine Rhineey, who had just arrived from New York, and the Marquis Giorgini, patron of the event, wanted to prevent him from doing so for fear of the many American buyers present (it was 1954 and the problem of racial integration was still very much felt in America). “It's done as I say. Either Dolores gets out or we put everything back in the trunks and she goes back to Rome!" was Ferdinandi's response and the fashion show was held and was even a great success, as again reported by a young Oriana Fallaci, correspondent for Epoca, who titled her article with: "Ferdinandi's idea of ​​having a black model wear fashion shows his white suits, aroused the greatest enthusiasm in the buying public."