Italian fashion has a long line of famous clothing brands, historic fashion houses and high-end designers, all of which have contributed to the birth of today’s fashion. What’s more, the story goes beyond the Italian fashion brands themselves, just think of the manufacturing, which even in the 21st century is still one of the highest in the world, with countless family-run businesses producing clothes for premium brands such as Chanel, Ralph Lauren and even Paul Smith. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that fashion truly runs in the blood of the Italians.
Founded in 1978 by Gianni Versace, Versace encompasses everything we think of as luxury today. It is a brand that not only looks expensive, but is expensive! Versace is known for its vibrant colours, bold patterns and vibrant, sometimes cheeky graphics. Even the use of the Medusa in the brand’s logo is a reference to its ability to completely consume and enchant anyone who looks at it. After the assassination of Gianni Versace in 1997, Donatella Versace took over as creative director of the brand, and thanks to her, the brand has continued to flourish in recent decades, becoming one of the most talked about luxury clothing brands. Versace is one of the very few high-end brands still majority-owned by the founding family.
No other brand has contributed more to the European denim genre than Diesel. Founded in 1978 by Renzo Rosso, Diesel is a lifestyle brand that now covers everything from children’s clothes to fragrances and sneakers. Although the brand has undergone some major changes in recent decades, in 2020 Diesel hired Y/Project’s artistic director Glenn Martens as artistic director, which has put it back in the spotlight among other Italian luxury fashion houses.
Moschino, founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino, has also had a huge impact on contemporary dressing. But beyond fashion, Moschino has embraced pop culture and everyday iconography in a way that perhaps no one had done before. Pop art, corporate branding, comic books and stuffed animals have all been a rich source of inspiration for the Moschino brand. The brand was given a major focus in Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Hypnotize’ and by the late 90s, all-over print jeans, striking graphics and big logos were headlining the world’s club scene, cementing the strange link between high-fashion and street culture.
Founded in 1993 by Miuccia Prada, Miu Miu is named after the family nickname Miuccia, a subsidiary of Prada, and is undoubtedly known for its youthful, effortless style. Best known for its ready-to-wear and handbag collections, the brand is never short of colour and energy, often breaking the rules and reaching for the eccentricity of Japanese fashion, ignoring minimal branding and understated lines.
Founded in 1994 by Consuelo Castiglioni, Marni, despite its relatively young age, still holds a worthy place in the list of the best Italian clothing brands, having become a success relatively quickly. One of Italy’s most iconic fashion brands, Marni used the family’s fur shop to experiment with textiles. The luxury brand now presents full ready-to-wear, luggage, jewellery and accessories collections, but the most notable are still the brand’s shoes, which combine timeless footwear styles with rather unique style notes.
Although the up-and-coming Italian clothing brand is still in its infancy, having been founded just 8 years ago, Palm Angels is still growing in popularity year on year. The brand was originally a photographic project by Francesco Ragazzi (better known as the art director of Moncler), and was inspired by the skateboarders of Venice and Los Angeles, for which the project is named. While Palm Angels’ previous collections left something to be desired, the brand has quickly evolved and successfully incorporated stylistic elements from its contemporaries, resulting in a mix of streetwear, high fashion and contemporary style that successfully blends elements of streetwear, high fashion and contemporary style, yet still has character.
+1: Moncler
Although the French brand’s name is short for Monestier-de-Clermont, a village near Grenoble, and it’s hard to think of Moncler without picturing well-heeled French families skiing in the Alps, it’s… Moncler was acquired by Remo Ruffini in 2003, and it was Ruffini who turned Moncler from a high-end outdoor brand into an iconic fashion symbol for the outdoors. So you can’t really talk about the revered French master of the quilted jacket, Moncler, without also talking about the distinctly Italian trait that elevated Moncler to collaborations with Thom Browne, OFF-WHITE, or even Rick Owens.