Italian fashion was born in Florence on July 12, 1952 when entrepreneur Giovanni Battista Giorgini invited international buyers and journalists to the country’s first fashion show in the decadent surroundings of the Pitti Palace’s White Room.
Sixty-five years on, the Sala Bianca will resume its former role as a launch pad of Florentine fashion when Stefano Ricci will hold a show to mark his label’s 45th anniversary on January 11, 2017.
Under the sumptuous Bohemian glass chandeliers, the international press and buyers will gather on the second day of Pitti Uomo as the Florentine men’s fashion house presents its Autumn/Winter collection.
Stefano Ricci: “For me it is an honour and a responsibility to restore the Sala Bianca to the fashion circuit, the place where Italian fashion was born.”
The Ricci family in typical Florentine “barchini” on the Arno River: Stefano and Claudia Ricci (centre), Niccolò (right) and Filippo (left) – Photography by Massimo Sestini / Courtesy of STEFANO RICCI
The event also marks an important step for the management of the Uffizi, which oversees activities at the Pitti Palace.
Director of the Uffizi Eike Schmidt commented, “This is an event that is coherent with the space, where the first runway show was held in 1952. The glorious history of Italian fashion will also be illustrated in a photography exhibition that will begin in Palazzo Pitti, in the Andito degli Angiolini during Pitti Uomo, promoted by the Florence Centre for Italian Fashion, with Foto Locchi Photo Archive and Gruppo Editoriale.”
The White Room ceased its runway role in the early 1980s when the focus of female fashion switched to Milan.
