Mila Schön (born Maria Carmen Nutrizio; September 28, 1916 – September 5, 2008) was an Italian fashion designer. Her surname was also spelled as Schoen.

Early life

Born Maria Carmen Nutrizio in

Trogir Trogir (; historically known as Traù (from Dalmatian language, Dalmatian, Venetian language, Venetian and Italian language, Italian: ); la, Tragurium; Greek language, Ancient Greek: Τραγύριον, ''Tragyrion'' or Τραγούριον, '' ...

to wealthy Dalmatian Italian aristocratic parents, her younger brother was journalist and newspaper editor Stefano "Nino" Nutrizio. With the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, Schön's family lost their estates. The family moved to Italy where Schön's father managed a pharmacy. During World War II, Mila married Aurelio Schön, an Austrian precious metals dealer, whom she met in

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

. In the postwar period, Schön enjoyed a brief return to wealth. She became a client of the most prestigious Parisian couture houses such as Balenciaga and Dior.

Fashion career

Following the failure of her husband's business and the couple's divorce, Mila once again found herself without financial resources. Unable to afford Parisian couture, Schön paid skilled Milanese seamstresses to copy the latest couture. Other women soon expressed interest in Schön's designs and in 1958 Schön and her mother opened a workshop. Schön had her first show in 1965 and in 1966 she opened a boutique on

Via Monte Napoleone Via Monte Napoleone, also spelled Via Montenapoleone, is an upscale shopping street in Milan, Italy, Europe's most expensive street (2022) and the third most expensive street in the world . It is famous for its ready-to-wear fashion and jewelry sho ...

, the center of the Milan fashion world. The

shop was decorated with modern furniture by Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen. In 1965, Schön showed her collection at the

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

along with other major Italian designers. For this show, all of Schön's fashion were in various shades of violet. Afterwards, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' called her “the shrinking violet of the Italian haute couture” (1968) and declared she did not “make clothes for shrinking violets" (1973). Her work was introduced in the United States in 1967 in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

. In 1969, she designed uniforms for Air Italia. Schön's men's line and her first

prêt-à-porter Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure Made-to-measure ( ...

collection for women appeared in 1971. In 1972, she designed uniforms for Iran Air. She was the first Italian designer to show ready-to-wear in Japan. By the 1980s, Schön had shops in Italy, Japan, and the United States with offerings that included handbags and shoes, lingerie and watches, perfume, swimwear and eyewear. In 1992, she designed the Italian national team at the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. In 1993, the brand was taken over by Itochu, a Japanese conglomerate, which sold it to Burani. In 2007, the brand was acquired by an Italian company, Brand Extension. In 2005,

Ronna Ronna is a feminine given name. People with that name include: * Ronna Brott, Master with the Ontario Superior Court * Ronna Burger (born 1947), American philosopher * Ronna C. Johnson, American professor of English * Ronna McDaniel (born 1973), ...

was the Mila Schön

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

license holder in Japan with retail value of €30 million.

Style and influence

According to ''The Telegraph'', Schön's work "combined Balenciaga's austerity of cut, Dior's versatility and a dash of Schiaparelli's wit." Her clothing was often geometric and according to Frances D'emilio at ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', "fashion-world examples of cubism." Schön signatures included intricate beading and wool coats that eschewed traditional linings in favor of “double facing” (two layers of wool stitched together). Her designs borrowed from the modern art she collected - Victor Vasarely,

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

, Lucio Fontana. Examples of Schön's work are held by museums such as

the Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Shortly after Schön's death in 2008, Milan's Palazzo Reale exhibited a retrospective of her work.

Famous clients

Schön's clients included Jacqueline Kennedy,

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Bouvier ( ), later Canfield, Radziwiłł (), and Ross (March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), usually known as Princess Lee Radziwill, was an American socialite, public-relations executive, and interior decorator. She was the y ...

Marella Agnelli Marella Agnelli (; born Donna Marella Caracciolo dei Principi di Castagneto ; 4 May 1927 – 23 February 2019)''Almanach de Gotha''. Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1942. pp. 398–399. was an Italian noblewoman, art collector, socialite, style icon an ...

Farah Diba Farah Pahlavi ( fa, فرح پهلوی, née Farah Diba ( fa, فرح دیبا, label=none); born 14 October 1938) is the widow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was successively Queen and Empress (''Shahbanu'') of Iran from ...

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...

, and

Brooke Astor Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John ...

. At Truman Capote's 1966 black-and-white ball, Marella Agnelli was voted the best-dressed guest in a kaftan embroidered by Schön's craftswomen. The third in the best-dressed guest contest was Lee Radziwill in a sequined Schön shift.

References

External links

Mila Schön WebsiteMila Schön
via Modern Fashion Encyclopedia
Mila Schön house
in Trogir {{DEFAULTSORT:Schon, Mila 1916 births 2008 deaths Fashion designers from Milan Italian fashion designers Italian women fashion designers Yugoslav nobility People from Trogir People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia