History of Italian Fashion
At the beginning of the 20th century, in Traversetolo, a small town in the province of Parma there are sisters with a passion for fashion and a sartorial tradition. A dream too big to realize in that small town, for this reason, the eldest and bravest sister, Zoe, decides to do something to realize her dream, She leaves her country and arrives in Rome where she starts working at the "Zecca" tailor's shop.
After short time her sisters Micol and Giovanna join her and once together hey decided to start from their small apartment in which they made clothes for the ladies that live in the same building.
In those years the European fashion uses the American fashion that is more functional and easy using less demanding but quality fabrics than sophisticated ones in parisian high fashion.
The Sorelle Fontana ‘s creations began to be appreciated by the upper Roman bourgeoisie, despite the economic difficulties arising from the conflict and in 1943 they opened a real Atelier in via Liguria, with 380 seamstresses available to support the intense work activity. The first important customer of the Roman tailoring is the daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, this leads to talk about the fashion house of the three sisters in the Roman salons.
The representatives of the upper middle class prefer to rely on the sartorial professionalism of Fontana rather than on expensive French creations. In 1951 the first fashion show of the Fontana creations took place in the white hall of Palazzo Pitti, in Florence, in the presence of foreign journalists and buyers. This is the moment when Maison Fontana faces other fashion houses and reaches overseas.
The classic woolen fabrics blend with simple and natural fabrics, enriched with embroidery and lace. The wedding dress designed for Linda Christian, for the marriage with the actor Tyrone Power, consecrates the queens of international high fashion. A refined style that of Maison Fontana, creations that aim to enhance femininity and elegance, embellished with bright details and excellent tailoring finishes. The skirts are soft and voluminous, while the necks are rigid and half-closed and the combinations of new and almost risky colors.
The Fontana sisters, therefore, are inspired by a nineteenth-century romantic style revisiting it in a modern way. Micol in 1994, after the death of Zoe and Giovanna, created a foundation that preserves the history of the Fontana sisters where more than two hundred haute couture dresses can be admired. Other creations are exhibited in the most prestigious museums in the world. Micol disappeared in 2015, at the age of 101 in his Roman house.
