Count Ferdinando Sarmi (February 14, 1912New York, Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989
ancestry.com; accessed November 2, 2016. – 1982) was an Italian-born American fashion designer and businessman. He headed the Sarmi fashion design house in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early years

Sarmi was born into a wealthy Italian family and raised in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

. He expressed interest in fashion as a youth but was discouraged from pursuing a design career by his father. Sarmi stated in a 1965 interview with ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, "in Italy, when the oldest son tells his father he wants to be a dress designer, it's like a woman saying she intends to be a prostitute". His father sent him to study at the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

, where he received a doctor of law degree. Despite his professional training, he desired a career in fashion. He became a costume designer and created costumes for two Italian

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s: ''Musica Proibita'' (released as ''Forbidden Music'' in the US) in 1942 and ''

Cronaca di un Amore ''Story of a Love Affair'' ( it, Cronaca di un amore) is a 1950 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè. Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contem ...

'' (released as ''Story of a Love Affair'' in the US) in 1950. It was his first and only known on-screen performance. He left Italy in 1951 to work in New York fashion.

New York

From 1951–1959, Sarmi was head designer for Elizabeth Arden. He then opened his own high quality ready-to-wear salon in New York in 1959, using the label Sarmi. In 1960, he won a Coty Award. It was during this time that he developed a reputation as a top designer, wooing an influential clientele that included celebrities, New York socialites, and foreign dignitaries.

Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...

wore a Sarmi for Arden gown to her husband's second

inaugural ball United States presidential inaugural balls are large social gatherings, both white tie and black tie, held to celebrate the commencement of a new term of the President of the United States. Planned and sanctioned by the Presidential Inaugural ...

in 1957. He was best known for his opulent evening looks, and for his use of extravagant fabrics such as

swansdown Swansdown was a fancy woolen material of the 19th century. It was a soft mix of wool and silk used for waistcoats. Wool was the primary fiber, blended with silk, and later with cotton. Waistcoats Made of toilinet and swansdown were popular with eq ...

. He became a naturalized United States citizen on January 12, 1959. Sarmi left Arden and opened his own Seventh Avenue boutique in 1959. In 1960, he was awarded the prestigious

Coty Award The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (awarded 1943–1984) were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty Awa ...

for fashion design. His collection included

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

and ready-to-wear apparel that set the pace for 1960s fashion in New York. His designs commonly featured intricate embroideries, vivid colors, and racy hemlines as well as hand-silkscreened silks and the first-ever tie-dyed silk chiffons used in haute couture, designed and produced by Tzaims Luksus. During the late 1960s, the house fell upon financial difficulties. In 1972, his business was renamed Ferdinando Sarmi, but it closed shortly thereafter. By 1977, Sarmi had resettled in Italy, and he died in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

in 1982.Cronaca di un amore un film di Michelangelo Antonioni : quando un'opera prima è già un capolavoro (2004), pg. 121
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarmi, Ferdinando 1912 births 1982 deaths American fashion designers Businesspeople from Trieste Clothing brands Design companies established in 1959 High fashion brands Italian emigrants to the United States Italian fashion designers Luxury brands Naturalized citizens of the United States University of Siena alumni Date of death missing