Romeo Gigli

Born in Bologna, Italy in 1951, Romeo Gigli comes from a wealthy aristocratic family. His childhood was saturated in art history and over 20,000 antiquarian books in his father's library. These gave him an appreciation of beauty which underlies most of his work. He studied architecture for a short while but decided that designing clothes was what he was really good for.

Romeo Gigli created his first fashion designs in 1972 and then decided to set up his own label, manufactured by the Novara based company Zamasport, in 1983.

From his first collection in 1984, he brought a new look to the world of Italian fashion, replacing its tailored, colourful traditions with a subtle colour range and fluid garments which would be widely influential. Often made of stretch fabrics, his clothes gently drape the body in a classical sense, but are thoroughly modern in treatment in the manner and angles at which they fasten or attach, or in their unexpected and very much exaggerated shapes.

Romeo Gigli's womenswear designs are essentially of the romantic type. His velvety and embroidered capes and boleros as well as his wrapped tops and skirts, were highly successful during the mid-1980's. His palette is very subdued but deeply vibrant and ultimately highly sophisticated.

In 1991, Gigli separated from his business partners Donato Maiano and Carla Sozzani and restructured his business. Romeo Gigli's house is today a million dollar concern.

In 1991, England's Bath Costume Museum chose one of Romeo Gigli's creations as its 1991 dress of the year, it was a midnight blue velvet pantsuit with a blouse of streaky sunset strips and a gilt-embroidered cummerbund.

Throughout the 1990's the house of Gigli has gone from success to success and is now one of the most creative and innovative Italian designers heading a world-wide fashion empire.

In 1993, Romeo Gigli introduced a new line, the G GIGLI (G for giovane) Line of clothes, which includes jackets and trousers, that are interchangeable for both women and men, but mostly for young people.

Find fashion by Romeo Gigli @ the following eshop: