Emilio Pucci, Tunic and leggings, 1965 + Vespa motorcycle. Italian Style Exhibition, Portland Art Gallery, 24 March 2015.
Q: Who invented the distinctive psychedelic patterns which proliferated during the mid Sixties, with their swirls, geometric shapes and bright, dayglo explosions of colour?
Was it the poster artists of San Francisco and London during 1966-8, following on their encounters with hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD? Or the dress designers of Carnaby Street and Paris around the same time, hooking into the Swinging Sixties vibe? What about a mild mannered Italian haute couture entrepreneur and artiste from the Isle of Capri during the 50s? Read on.....
During a visit to the Portland Art Museum in March 2015 I was intrigued by one of the items on display in the Italian Style exhibition. It was a multiicoloured tunic and leggings with matching shoes by Italian designer Emilio Pucci (see photograph above). The brightly coloured fabric had a spectacular, modern Sixties design, and stood out against the plain cream backing wall and metallic green of the adjacent Vespa step-through motorcycle, with the latter prop straight out of Hollywood movie Roman Holiday (1953).
As an Australian who had only studied ancient and local history at school, I knew precious little about Italian art and fashion of the twentieth century, apart from what I gleaned from watching movies such as the aforesaid Hepburn vehicle Roman Holiday (1953) and cult classics La Dolce Vita (1960) and La Notte (1961). The sense of European style expressed in those features left a mark on this boy from Downunda. And that impression was one of suave, 1950s sophistication, reinforced in my memory by what I saw locally as a child during the following decade, in the attire of post-war European immigrants arriving in that part of Australia where I lived - Illawarra. Italians and refugees from Eastern Europe were attracted to the region by employment opportunities associated with the industrial hub that it once was - a centre of coal mining, steel production, clothing factories and engineering machinery shops. Many of the migrants and refugees had a sense of style that was foreign to that which had evolved in Australia since the arrival of primarily British settlers since the latter part of the eighteenth century. Italian style was foreign to a boy from Bulli, though its influence - unbeknownst to me - was ubiquitous, reaching the department stores and accessory shops of my hometown, if somewhat belatedly and in the form of cheap, mass-produced versions where silk was replaced by cotton. Such was the case during the Sixties and early Seventies when I was just a long-haired lad in jeans and t-shirts. Unsophisticated moi? Perhaps. Metropolitan Australian? Indeed. Without style? Most assuredly.
The 1965 ensemble that pricked my interest in far off Portland, Oregon, some fifty years later seemed more the product of a Carnaby Street or King's Road, London, fashion house than an Italian seaside boutique on the Isle of Capri. Also, the combination of colourful, stylish attire with step-through motorcycle was definitely not British. Mods on step-throughs were, to my mind, clad in black, perhaps with the addition of tri-coloured Union Jack insignia a la Pete Townsend's Quadrophenia (1979). They were decidedly rough and mostly male.
So what was I seeing here in the Portland show - in the multicoloured, geometric patterns on fabric, posed against a metallic green machine? The outfit was stylish, far-out, modern and young. It was colourful. It seemed to me to be definitely psychedelic, the product of London or San Franscisco, circa 1967 and the Summer of Love. But I was off the mark. In fact, it was part of an evolving tradition of Italian fashion design, and it hit me like a thunderbolt. Wow! I had thought such a thing was invented by Londoners during 1966-7, but I was wrong. What I was seeing was the work of Emilio Pucci from 1965. His designs were, in part, a precursor of that commonly associated with the Swinging Sixties. The question therefore arose: from whence had Pucci developed the design I was enchanted by in Portland? What were its origins? What was the extent of his talent? In seeking to answer this and other questions, the exhibition provided the first clue, in the form of a brief note about Pucci, a name I was hitherto unaware of:
Was it the poster artists of San Francisco and London during 1966-8, following on their encounters with hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD? Or the dress designers of Carnaby Street and Paris around the same time, hooking into the Swinging Sixties vibe? What about a mild mannered Italian haute couture entrepreneur and artiste from the Isle of Capri during the 50s? Read on.....
During a visit to the Portland Art Museum in March 2015 I was intrigued by one of the items on display in the Italian Style exhibition. It was a multiicoloured tunic and leggings with matching shoes by Italian designer Emilio Pucci (see photograph above). The brightly coloured fabric had a spectacular, modern Sixties design, and stood out against the plain cream backing wall and metallic green of the adjacent Vespa step-through motorcycle, with the latter prop straight out of Hollywood movie Roman Holiday (1953).
Roman Holiday (1953). The cast on a Vespa motorcycle. L to r. Eddie Albert, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
As an Australian who had only studied ancient and local history at school, I knew precious little about Italian art and fashion of the twentieth century, apart from what I gleaned from watching movies such as the aforesaid Hepburn vehicle Roman Holiday (1953) and cult classics La Dolce Vita (1960) and La Notte (1961). The sense of European style expressed in those features left a mark on this boy from Downunda. And that impression was one of suave, 1950s sophistication, reinforced in my memory by what I saw locally as a child during the following decade, in the attire of post-war European immigrants arriving in that part of Australia where I lived - Illawarra. Italians and refugees from Eastern Europe were attracted to the region by employment opportunities associated with the industrial hub that it once was - a centre of coal mining, steel production, clothing factories and engineering machinery shops. Many of the migrants and refugees had a sense of style that was foreign to that which had evolved in Australia since the arrival of primarily British settlers since the latter part of the eighteenth century. Italian style was foreign to a boy from Bulli, though its influence - unbeknownst to me - was ubiquitous, reaching the department stores and accessory shops of my hometown, if somewhat belatedly and in the form of cheap, mass-produced versions where silk was replaced by cotton. Such was the case during the Sixties and early Seventies when I was just a long-haired lad in jeans and t-shirts. Unsophisticated moi? Perhaps. Metropolitan Australian? Indeed. Without style? Most assuredly.
The 1965 ensemble that pricked my interest in far off Portland, Oregon, some fifty years later seemed more the product of a Carnaby Street or King's Road, London, fashion house than an Italian seaside boutique on the Isle of Capri. Also, the combination of colourful, stylish attire with step-through motorcycle was definitely not British. Mods on step-throughs were, to my mind, clad in black, perhaps with the addition of tri-coloured Union Jack insignia a la Pete Townsend's Quadrophenia (1979). They were decidedly rough and mostly male.
Mods, London, 1960s.
So what was I seeing here in the Portland show - in the multicoloured, geometric patterns on fabric, posed against a metallic green machine? The outfit was stylish, far-out, modern and young. It was colourful. It seemed to me to be definitely psychedelic, the product of London or San Franscisco, circa 1967 and the Summer of Love. But I was off the mark. In fact, it was part of an evolving tradition of Italian fashion design, and it hit me like a thunderbolt. Wow! I had thought such a thing was invented by Londoners during 1966-7, but I was wrong. What I was seeing was the work of Emilio Pucci from 1965. His designs were, in part, a precursor of that commonly associated with the Swinging Sixties. The question therefore arose: from whence had Pucci developed the design I was enchanted by in Portland? What were its origins? What was the extent of his talent? In seeking to answer this and other questions, the exhibition provided the first clue, in the form of a brief note about Pucci, a name I was hitherto unaware of:
Emilio Pucci (1914-1992) - From the early 1950s, Emilio Pucci was noted for his stylish, colourful clothes made from vibrant printed textiles. Pucci's cotton beachwear helped popularize the seaside as a place for fashion display. His whimsical prints and bold colour palette resulted in playful holiday wardrobes, making his boutique in Capri a required stop for chic international travelers.
Pucci and Patterns, 1959. Comment: In this 1959 photo, the designer sits on the lawn of his palazzo in
front of a display of scarves from his 1957 Patio and 1959 Botticelliana
collections. The model is wearing a dress adorned with the Padiglione
motif. Photo: David Lees. Source: Watson (2019).
Apparently Pucci liked bright colours and modern designs in the fabrics he used - his Wikipedia entry notes his production house was "synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colours" (Wikipedia 2015). A quick search of his name within Google Images revealed ample evidence of this. Bright colours, modern designs of geometric and swirling liquid patterns on a range of fabrics, tight-fitting garments and a sense of style that was brave, outrageous and often glamorous. I knew that the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD had stimulated many of the young artists of the day to produce a range of multicoloured, psychedelic artworks such as posters, featuring similar swirling patterns and vivid colour, however the related fashion of the time in Britain and America was not as extreme as the art, or as Pucci's clothing. Tie-died t-shirts and dresses became common amongst the hippies of the day, and the fashion houses of London revelled in the opportunities arising out of this explosion of colour. However Pucci was coming from another place, another tradition, and it was one which intrigued me as it was obviously not psychedelic. I would need to look further if I hoped to understand more fully what I was seeing in Portland.
On show
Within the Italian Style exhibition the Pucci tunic and leggings of 1965 were presented on a headless model standing next to a Vespa, as though about to take a ride through the streets of Rome or Florence. In the background and above was a slideshow of black and white Italian fashion photographs from the late 1950s and early 1960s, reinforcing the fact that this attire was no a one-off, but part of a substantial tradition of design and fashion coming out of Italy. The original clothing came from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (catalogue number T68-2009). The Pucci outfit and Vespa had originally been shown in The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014 exhibition which opened there on 5 April 2014. The show subsequently toured to the United States in 2015.
The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, April 2014.
The Portland Art Museum Italian Style exhibition ran from 7 February to 3 May 2015. On display was a collection of original dresses, gowns and other
finery, along with photographs, video and jewellery which presented
Italian fashion from post World War II until the present day. The Pucci garments were just one of many on display. Emilio Pucci founded his business in Florence in 1947. He was an innovator in the use of stretch fabrics and sleek designs, and quickly came to the attention of the major Italian and American fashion houses after the war. Marilyn Monroe was a noted fan of his work, wearing dresses and blouses by him late in her life, and being buried in a favourite green top by Pucci.
Marisa Berenson modelling a Pucci outfit, Vogue UK, March 1965. Photographer: David Bailey.
Pucci's fashion house continues to this day, and notes the following in regards to the inspiration behind its founder:
It was during the ‘50s that Pucci began developing his signature prints: graphic, abstract designs inspired by the world around him – Sicilian mosaics, heraldic banners, Bali Batiks, and African motifs. It was the first time that such pulsing geometric patterns had been incorporated into clothing and the effect was highly original, so much so that the international fashion press, smitten by his bold, radical approach, crowned him “The Prince of Prints”. Each print was like a work of art born upon a silk canvas, framed with a decorative border and signed in the artist’s name – “Emilio”. He brought a luscious, bright colour palette to his craft. As a colorist he was unparalleled and drew inspiration primarily from the natural landscapes of the Mediterranean, but also from the exotic locales to which he travelled. The result was a sophisticated fusion of colour which became the hallmark of Pucci design. Instantly recognisable, Pucci’s glorious and joyful combinations exude energy and emotion and allow the designs of the clothes themselves to remain relatively simple.
Emilio Pucci at work on a design
Pucci's designs were the equivalent of psychedelia without the drugs. As Grunenburgh and Harris pointed out in Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s:
Bizarrely, however, the psychedelic aesthetic in print had been preconceived by an Italian couturier long before the synthesis of LSD - as early as 1960 Emilio Pucci had made his name by designing easy-to-wear, fluid silk and silk-jersey holiday clothing printed with his signature combination of organic and geometric motifs in acid-bright colours overlaid with Eastern influences (Grunenburgh & Harris 2005).
The question remains: from whence did this extraordinary inspiration for colour and design come?
Verushka von Lehndorff modelling an Emilio Pucci ensemble, 1964.
Sicilian Mosaics
In answer to this question, an Australian historian Dr Joseph Davis has suggested a link with ancient Sicilian mosaics. In an email to the author he outlined his thoughts on the possible origin of Emilio Pucci's brightly coloured geometric and swirling designs:
I can't prove it but my feeling is that the biggest influence on Pucci was Sicilian mosaics. Sicily has been invaded by everyone - including the English and
French and Africans and Arabs - and that means it is the absolute racial
and cultural melting pot of the world. With the influence of Japan (which you know all about from your study
of Tolkien) on the West, this meant that every culture in the world was
spinning in Pucci's head. He was rich enough to travel to Sicily from Tuscany heaps. I think these images of some Sicilian mosaics give a clue to his influences...... The best way to explain it I guess is that Italians have reacted to their ancient past. In my experience (and I have met quite a few Italians) there is not the
fascination with the old that we tend to have (I suppose we like it
because we haven't got it in European terms) - and certainly [they have] no
fondness for Georgian Twee and country house couture like
the English upper classes. They love the modern. They like new things. A Tuscan farmhouse can be rustic and spartan in look but must also have that touch of 50s modernist minimalism. Pucci was seriously good at absorbing influences from all over the place and being defiantly modern about combing them. He should be getting a lot of royalties for the way the counter culture ripped off his designs and art. Pucci never saw the indigenous art of Australia which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s but probably would have love d it too (Davis 2015).
Mosaic from the Capella Palatina church, Palermo, 1140-70.
Davis certainly goes a long way to explaining the origin of Pucci's designs and their connection with the later psychedelic patterns and artworks that proliferated during the mid' Sixties, usually in connection with the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as marijuana and LSD. Which came first, the chicken or the egg; Pucci or day glo? The answer appears to point to the man from Florence and his workshop on the Isle of Capri, a playground for the rich and famous.
Emilio Pucci fashion, design and famous faces [montage] 1960s to 2010s.
References
About Emilio Pucci, Emilio Pucci [website], 2015, URL: http://home.emiliopucci.com/about-emilio-pucci.
Davis, Joseph, On the origins of Emilio Pucci's design [email], 9 June 2015.
Emilio Pucci [webpage], Wikipedia, 2015. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Pucci.
Emilio Pucci - The Prince of Prints, Aavenice [webpage], accessed 18 December 2019. URL: https://avvenice.com/en/235_emilio-pucci.
Grunenburg, Christoph and Harris, Jonathan, Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Critist and Counterculture in the 1960s, Liverpool University Press, 2005, 383p.
Muttoni, Carlo, Fractals, Fashion, Pucci and LSD, Envy [blog], 14 May 2011. URL: http://fashindie.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fractals-fashion-pucci-and-lsd.
Watson, Clair, How Fashion Icon Emilio Pucci Became the Prince of Psychedelic Prints, Introspective Magazine, 6 October 2019. URL: https://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/emilio-pucci/.
Michael Organ
Last updated: 18 December 2019
