Krizia is a

designer label The term designer label refers to clothing, luxury automobile manufacturers and other personal accessory items sold under an often prestigious marque which is commonly named after a designer, founder, or a location-like where the company was fo ...

and manufacturer of ladies'

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In many ...

s, clothing, footwear and perfumes. The ready-to-wear fashion label was established in 1954 in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, by

Mariuccia Mandelli Mariuccia Mandelli (January 31, 1925 – December 6, 2015) was an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. Mandelli established her ready-to-wear fashion house, Krizia, in 1954 by bringing suitcases of samples to shops in Milan out of her Fiat ...

(1925–2015). Her husband Aldo Pinto was chairman of the company.

History

Mandelli unveiled her first black-and-white collection at the

Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, in 1964, which earned her a Critica della Moda award. The brand's first and historic location was on

Via della Spiga Via della Spiga (; literally "Alley of the Ear") is one of the Italian city of Milan's top shopping streets, forming the north-east boundary of the luxurious ''Quadrilatero della Moda'' (literally, "fashion quadrilateral"), along with Via Monte Na ...

, 23 in Milan. Under Mandelli, Krizia rapidly expanded during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1971, Krizia released a version of shorts cut "very short", an early form of

hot pants 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 ...

. Every year, Mandelli would knit a different animal on selected items of her collection. In 1985, Krizia opened a private art showroom (Spazio Krizia) on Via Manin, 21, in Milan. At its height, in the 1990s, the

fashion house Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

was doing half a billion dollars of annual business. It was while at the helm of Krizia that Mandelli introduced the high fashion world to

. In 1992, the company launched its affordable brand MM by Krizia, a year after its licence-holder

Hartmarx Hart Schaffner Marx is an American manufacturer of tailored menswear owned by New York-based Authentic Brands Group. Founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1911 as "Hart Schaffner & Marx", the company is located in Des Plaines, Illinois. History T ...

suggested it. In 1995, the company was trialed in the USA, along with many other Italian fashion brands, for "bribing tax officers in exchange for lenient audits". In Italy, the investigation was handled by

Mani pulite ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italian ...

's magistrate

Antonio Di Pietro Antonio Di Pietro (; born 2 October 1950) is an Italian politician, lawyer and magistrate. He was a minister in government of Romano Prodi, a Senator, and a Member of the European Parliament. He was a prosecutor in the ''Mani Pulite'' corrupti ...

. In February 2014, Shenzhen Marisfrolg, a Chinese corporation owned by the entrepreneur and designer Zhu Chongyun, bought Krizia and Mandelli stepped down from a leadership role. In 2015, the Via della Spiga's historic store was revamped. In January 2017, Simona Clemenza was named CEO of the company. Two Krizia boutiques opened in China, and in March 2017, the Spazio Krizia reopened. In June 2018, Clemenza left the company.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Clothing companies established in 1954 Italian companies established in 1954 Clothing brands of Italy Italian suit makers Luxury brands High fashion brands Shoe companies of Italy Manufacturing companies based in Milan Fashion accessory brands Perfume houses

History

See also

References

External links