Italian clothing and Italian style play an important role in Italian life. Italians dress well and looking good is just as important in Italy as it is here in Montreal. Fortunately, there are many top local and world renowned Italian designers to accommodate the needs of the well dressed. The fashion centers of Milan, Rome and Florence host the iconic houses of Valentino, Versace, Gucci, Prada, Fendi and Armani. These are the brand names that allow all of us to experience the Italian style of fashion. Italian clothes are not inexpensive but when you purchase Italian clothing you are buying into what Italians refer to as raffinatezza, refinement or polish and like the popular maxim, Italian clothing can be “reassuringly expensive.”
Italian style in clothing and accessories began to emerge as one of the global fashion trends by the end of World War II. In those early days the fashion conscious had essentially two choices, department store mass produced clothes or the very exclusive and expensive couture from Paris and New York. It took the Italians to recognize the need for more available, comfortable but still sophisticated and well tailored clothes. The prêt-à-porter Italian clothing industry emerged as Italy’s answer to mass produced clothing.
Italy has long been famous for textiles and the exporting of accessory fashion items and leather merchandise, in particular fine shoes and jewelry. The invention of eyeglasses can be attributed to Italy which is now home to the largest number of designer sunglass companies in the world. Italian style and Italian clothing are ingrained in Italian society and as a nation the poorly dressed are not endured. When dressed in Italian clothing you are making a class statement of elegant refinement.
Drawing on an extraordinary cultural history and coupled with a flair for great advertising and promotion, Italian design houses have an uncanny ability to continually modernize both Italian style and Italian clothing. In a country where the police wear designer uniforms the “Made in Italy” label is one of the most exclusive stamps of quality and style in the world of contemporary fashion.
