I was pleased to discover by checking the statistics of this blog that the most popular posts aren't the ones dedicated to contemporary fashion designers, but the mini-essays on costume designs and tailoring traditions.
I must indeed thank all the readers, from fashion students to directors working on documentaries on specific tailors or tailoring schools, who got in touch asking further information regarding the posts on the Milanese, Florentine and Neapolitan styles.
Having focused on three schools from the mainland, let’s move onto the islands today with a post that focuses on the Sicilian tailoring school, concentrating on the tailors from the Eastern part of the region.
In a previous post I mentioned Dolce & Gabbana’s presentation for their Autumn/Winter 2010-11 collection.
That presentation, as you may remember, was supposedly based on sartorial traditions and closed on a sentimental note, with an army of bare-legged models wearing tailored jackets.
Despite hitting all the right notes with the fashion media, this final nostalgic conclusion that somehow called to mind Giuseppe Tornatore’s perfectly choreographed crowd scenes, didn’t say much about the history of the Sicilian tailoring school, so let’s try to learn a little bit more about it.
Natural disasters, revolts and epidemics didn’t allow the islands to develop a proper tailoring school at least until the years that followed the end of the Bourbon dynasty.
History traces back to 1860 the first founders of the Catania tailoring school, with famous maestri such as Grimaldi, Agostino Sciuto, Anastasi and Gaetano Scuto.
Yet experts suggest that the "golden age" of the Catania tailoring school arrived with the generation that followed.
The local tailoring scene flourished indeed with the following tailors: Nunzio Idonea, unanimously considered as an artist rather than just a tailor, well-known for his research trips abroad to study the trends and styles popular in other countries and for trying to adapt them in his own revolutionary creations; Gaetano Colondieri, who was extremely skilled on a technical level, and Simone Riccioli, famous for being the official tailor of members of the Italian monarchy and for his strong beliefs in his profession.
Among the others that should maybe be remembered there are also Muscatello, Auteri, Spadaro and Giovanni Messina.
Thanks to these craftsmen the local tailoring school was able to compete with the national and international scenes.
After the First World War new tailors arrived on the scene: Giovanni Le Fave (who had learnt the profession working as apprentice for Idonea and Riccioli), Salvatore Idonea, Mario Gulizia, Vincenzo Musumeci, Alfredo Camano and Roberto Riccioli (who died when he was only 20 years old, but who had already become an established and talented tailor thanks to his father Simone’s teachings), Agostino Ganci, Andrea Gentile, Semperi, Consoli and Nicosia.
Around the same time Messina started producing equally talented tailors: Passalacqua, Carmelo Mazzaglia, Brisuglio, Paolo Crisafulli, Giuliano, Domenico Sorrento and later on Spagnolo, who was actually from Calabria and who is often remembered as a clever and skilled craftsman especially on a technical level.
Towards the end of the 1800s the Di Natale Brothers became quite popular in Syracuse, and were later on replaced by Monterosso, Zuccaro, Santuccio and Formica.
The latter trained with Domenico Caraceni in Rome and between the two World Wars established his tailoring house in Syracuse where he developed his designs that were mainly based on the Caraceni style.
Formica was well-known for two reasons: he focused a lot on the structure of his designs and he used to subject his clients to endless fittings.
There were obviously more tailors in Syracuse, among them also the Piccione brothers, known more for their business acumen than for their sartorial achievements.
Throughout the 50s and the 60s the Sicilian tailoring school developed and went from strength to strength.
The scene proved particularly interesting in Catania, where tailors often collaborated together, meeting in a sort of private club called Circolo Etneo dei Maestri Sarti.
Here they would relax, share tips and suggestions and plan catwalk shows and events.
It was indeed at the club that the tailors often organised in the early 60s the Festival Etneo d’Alta Moda, a sort of high fashion event supported by many Italian textile factories, aimed at showcasing designs created by the Catania, Messina and Syracuse tailors.
One of the first festivals was organised in the early 60s, when the chairman of the Circolo Etneo was Filippo Infantolino, head of the eponymous Catania-based tailoring house where also Paolo Lo Re trained (see fifth picture in this post - it shows the team at the Infantolino tailoring house, with Filippo standing in the middle with young apprentice Paolo Lo Re sitting on his left).
The creations of Lo Re were considered in the 60s very important: the Catania-based tailor created classic designs characterised by technical precision, soft silhouettes and a great attention to details.
Sandro Riccioli, grandson of Simone Riccioli, took inspiration for his creations from Lo Re’s designs.
When Sandro arrived on the scene his grandfather had already died, so he trained under the Neapolitan tailor Angelo Blasi.
As a result, Sandro developed a very personal style, integrating the principles of the Neapolitan school with his own innovations, opting for modern lines that proved very appealing to his younger customers.
The young tailor opened a workshop in a building in via Cimarosa, the elegant area of Catania, maybe inspired in his choice by his grandfather's passion for everything stylish, chic and elegant (legend goes that his grandfather received his clients elegantly dressed in a tuxedo!).
Together with Lo Re and Sandro Riccioli, in the early 60s there were another two important tailors in Catania Franco Caponnetto and Giuseppe Risicato.
The former trained under Alfredo Camano and Paolo Lo Re and created suits based on an interesting dichotomy: while the structure of his suits was based on classic principles, the lines were extremely modern for his times and he incorporated in his suits elements and techniques borrowed from the high fashion industry.
Risicato trained under Nunzio Idonea, where he also worked as a cutter, and his suits were often conceived as updated versions of Idonea’s creations.
These four tailors were considered the best ones on the Catania scene in the early 60s.
Yet at the time there were over 1,000 tailoring houses in the town, all of them producing quite beautiful suits.
The average standard in Catania was quite high and this was the main reason why many Sicilian tailors who moved to other Italian cities or emigrated abroad became quite successful.
Among the famous tailors of the times there were also Giovan Paolo Miccichè, Salvatore Savoca, Giuseppe Indelicato, Giuseppe Corsaro, the Di Stefano brothers, sons of Salvatore Di Stefano, Salvatore Giuffrida (considered as the favourite tailor of many sportsmen - portrayed in the tenth image in this post during a fitting with footballer Salvadore Calvanese, who at the time played with the Catania team) and Giuseppe Di Mauro.
One of the most important tailors in Messina was Gioacchino Pirri (portrayed in this picture next to his collaborator Giuseppe Uncinotta).
Pirri was usually considered as a tailor and fashion designer with great technical skills.
He had trained under Paolo Crisafulli and launched in Messina a very elegant style.
Another famous tailor was Francesco Buttafarro, important for his technical details, accuracy and precise lines.
Giuseppe Giocondo was instead considered as the most modern and avant-garde tailor in town. He used to create elegant suits characterised by rather unusual and soft lines.
In Messina there were at the time other tailors worth remembering such as Raffaele Sciacca, Francesco Sarti and Angelo Arena, who also created womenswear designs.
The most important tailor in Syracuse remained Corrado Rubino.
Born in Rosolini, he moved to Syracuse where he opened a tailoring house near the harbour creating suits characterised by very clean and sharp silhouettes.
His designs were considered typically Sicilian, since he had trained under Corrado Podimani, a famous tailor from Rosolini.
Rubino left his tailoring house to Vincenzo Fichera, one of his apprentices who trained under Iapichino and Santocono in Milan.
Giuseppe Bonaiuto came instead from a family of tailors and this is probably the main reason why his cut was extremely precise.
His grandfather was well-known in Syracuse and so was his father Francesco who trained in Catania under Colondieri, Riccioli and Muscatello.
Sebastiano Iapichino imported in Syracuse the Caraceni style. He had indeed trained in Rome under Caraceni and was influenced by his soft and elegant lines and use of light fabrics.
Among the others there were also Carmelo Borgione, Vittorio Cardia, Minniti and Paolo Lo Bello, son of Gaetano and brother of Nello who moved to New York where he opened his own tailoring house.
At the beginning of the '60s tailor Giuseppe Bonaiuto had realised that some important changes were happening in Sicily, changes that would have had an impact on the local tailoring school.
As factories and industrial plants started opening between Syracuse, Augusta and Ragusa, many young men opted for a factory job, abandoning an extremely hard and skilled yet also rewarding career in tailoring.
Debates started around the same time in support of this profession and of the various tailoring schools, originally created to satisfy the clients' requests and the different climates.
The perfect suit was conceived as an artistic creation, the result of a professional synthesis between the notions a tailor had learnt from his maestro, often based in his hometown, and his own ideas and innovative inputs.
Sicilian tailoring was exported thanks to all those craftsmen who left the island to move to the mainland or who emigrated abroad, taking to other countries their style, technique and talent.
As the years passed, many tailoring houses closed down in Sicily, and the figure of the tailor, considered up to the 60s as an artist and craftsman, little by little disappeared.
At the moment there is a renewed interest in menswear and many fashion designers are focusing on rediscovering handmade details, trying to provide some kind of uniqueness for their customers, rather than offering them the umpteenth suit or jacket.
Yet it would probably be even better if many academies and institutions out there would help reviving some interest in the tailoring profession, reminding young people that it's good to be a fashion designer, but it's probably even better to actually be able to work next to a fashion designer, developing innovative designs and creating like architects the perfect structures to dress the human body.
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Posted by: CNY warrior dash | January 12, 2013 at 09:35 AM