Milan, 1932. Ottorino Giangrossi, an importer of German stockings, decides to launch his own business. Called Ilcat (Industria Lombarda Calze a Telaio), Giangrossi’s Milanese factory produced Italian silk stockings that, thanks to their high-quality, soon became rather popular. After the war, new American and British machines made the production easier, but the big change arrived when Ottorino’s son Remo and his wife Velia joined the business, injecting new life into the brand. 
Remo became indeed a professional experimenter constantly researching and looking for new yarns to produce incredibly soft stockings. Together they launched a new brand, Pierre Mantoux that produced in the ‘60s fashionable tights in 56 different nuances or decorated with tiny details such as polka-dots and lace inserts. The brand contributed to turn hosiery into a vital fashion accessory. 
During the ‘80s with the boom of the Italian prêt-à-porter, all the main designers – from Armani to Versace and Salvatore Ferragamo – featured Pierre Mantoux tights in their collections.
In the meantime the brand started producing glamorous hosiery, such as red lace tights inspired by Kelly LeBrock in The Woman in Red (1984).
Experimenting became the key word at Pierre Mantoux and, after Remo died, Velia and daughters Patrizia and Fulvia kept on researching and working hard, creating in the '90s the first cashmere yarn for tights. Nowadays, Pierre Mantoux concentrates on comfort and function, but also on embroidered tights, decorated with pearls, sequins and lace inserts. Soon a new version of the lace tights originally dedicated to KellyLe Brock - this time entirely handmade - will also be available. 
As a tribute to the 50th anniversary of tights, invented in 1959 by Allen Grant, and to coincide with the launch of the Spring/Summer 09 collection, the Pierre Mantoux brand opened a new flagship store in the historical centre of Milan, Via Solferino 12. The shop opened around a month ago and to celebrate it, the brand also produced a short video that chronicles the history of hosiery in style. 
From the first tights created in the late ‘50s, the video moves onto a gallery of fashionable and stylish women, from Sophia Loren in It Started in Naples (1960) dancing on a rock’n’roll track in front of Clark Gable to Marilyn Monroe in Let’s Make Love (1960), who bewitches Yves Montand in her jumper and black tights, and to Jane Fonda wearing tights paired with extravagant avant-garde spacesuits in Barbarella (1968).
Apart from being a joy for those who love that perfect connection between fashion and cinema, the video also explores the history of a historical brand that, experimenting with materials and details, produced extraordinarily glamorous hosiery.
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