Graziella Fontana is a Genoese Italian fashion designer who was active in the London Mod fashion scene in the 1960s and early 1970s. One of her designs, a

hotpants Hotpants or hot pants are extremely short shorts. The term was first used by ''Women's Wear Daily'' in 1970 to describe shorts made in luxury fabrics such as velvet and satin for fashionable wear, rather than their more practical equivalents th ...

suit in check

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cotton, was chosen as the

Dress of the Year The Dress of the Year is an annual fashion award run by the Fashion Museum, Bath from 1963. Each year since 1963, the Museum has asked a fashion journalist to select a dress or outfit that best represents the most important new ideas in contempor ...

in 1971. Fontana worked for a number of manufacturers and design houses in France and Britain during the 1960s and early 1970s, including

Chloé Chloé () is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion. During the next year of 1953 Aghion joined forces with Jacques Lenoir, formally managing the business side of the brand, allowing Aghion to purely pursue the creativ ...

, where she was a co-designer with

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...

from 1965 to 1972. Although Italian, and associated with the French house of Chloé, she was also listed alongside

Ossie Clark Raymond "Ossie" Clark (9 June 1942 – 6 August 1996) was a British fashion designer who was a major figure in the Swinging Sixties scene in London and the fashion industry in that era. Clark is now renowned for his vintage designs by present- ...

and

Foale and Tuffin Foale and Tuffin was an English fashion design business established in London in 1961 by Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin. The label became a part of the 1960s Swinging London scene. Company history The designers had both studied at the Royal Colle ...

as one of "England's young mod designers". She also designed for the Italian fashion house

Max Mara Max Mara (Italian aks 'ma:ra is an Italian fashion business. It markets up-market ready-to-wear clothing. It was established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti (7 January 1927 – 12 January 2005). In March 2008, the company had 2,2 ...

in the mid-1960s, the Scottish knitwear brand

Lyle & Scott Lyle & Scott Limited (Scottish Gaelic: ''Lyle & Scott Earranta''), trading as Lyle & Scott, is a Scottish fashion and knitwear brand well known historically for its golfing knitwear. Based in Hawick, Scotland, the brand designs, manufactures and ...

, and the English designer Judith Hornby, for whom the Dress of the Year hot-pants outfit was created. Fontana was particularly known for her sharply tailored suits.

References

Italian fashion designers Italian women fashion designers British women fashion designers British fashion designers Living people Businesspeople from Genoa Year of birth missing (living people) {{fashion-bio-stub