The Prince of Prints
Pucci’s vision and legacy
Emilio Pucci (1914–1992) had a passion for women, a visionary sense of style, and an eye for color and design. With these talents he created
a fashion house unlike any other. By the early ’50s his boutique on the isle of Capri was catering to wealthy sophisticates, heiresses, and movie stars buying his “Capri pants,” silk scarves, and lightweight separates. By the end of the decade, Jacqueline Kennedy and
Marilyn Monroe were wearing his dresses, and
by the mid-’60s the label was synonymous with the gilded lifestyle of an international jetset.
The Pucci story is a modern epic with its roots in renaissance Italy: the brand’s founder, the Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento, was a charismatic aristocrat whose lineage extends back to the 14th century. It is a story of evolution: a family company which grew from one tiny store to an international brand. And finally, it is a tale of innovation: Pucci was
one of the first brands to bear a logo, and
a pioneer of diversification into interiors, athletic wear and accessories. It introduced free-moving, lightweight fabrics, pop-art prints, and a new color palette into womenswear, and constantly pushed fabric and printing technologies.
Featuring
hundreds of photographs, drawings, and candid shots from the archive of the Emilio Pucci Foundation, this tome captures the breathtaking elegance and drama of a unique brand.
Vanessa Friedman’s text places Emilio’s achievements in the context of fashion history, and provides insight into the remarkable Pucci dynasty.
The author
Vanessa Friedman is the fashion director and chief fashion critic of The New York Times. Previously, she was the fashion editor of the Financial Times, features director of UK In Style, and contributed regularly to The Economist, The New Yorker, and Vogue. She is the winner of the Fashion Group International’s Media award, the Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page award for specialty writing, and the Fashion/Beauty Monitor’s Fashion Journalist of the Year award, and is on the advisory council of Princeton University’s History Department.
The contributing author
Alessandra Arezzi Boza is a Costume and Fashion historian, has worked as a consultant for the Costume Gallery at Palazzo Pitti in Florence and in several projects for fashion houses and their archives. She was the curator of the Emilio Pucci Archive Foundation from 2001 to 2015.
The editor
Armando Chitolina worked as a design consultant and art director at Vogue Italia and L'Uomo Vogue, and image consultant for fashion houses Moschino and Mila Schön. His TASCHEN titles include William Claxton's Jazz Seen, Gian Paolo Barbieri's Equator, The Book of Tiki, Naked as a Jaybird and Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic.
Emilio Pucci
Hardcover, 11.8 x 11.8 in., 6.90 lb, 420 pages
