A brand belonging to Gemmindustria, a company founded in Milan in 1943 that operates in the production and distribution of precious stones and pearls in the jewelry business. The brand found immediate success in the market at the beginning of…

Gérard (1962). French photographer born in Paris (where he lives and works). He has worked closely with the newspaper Libération as a photo-journalist since 1984, as well as Time, L’Express, The Independent Magazine, The New York Times and Le Monde.…

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. It has been collecting textiles and clothing since it was opened in 1885. It has 20,000 pieces, including Coptic fragments, embroideries, tapestries, silks, and textiles from every period, including some contemporary Czech…

A skirt realised in stiff and reinforced material, usually in tulle, to wear under a skirt in order to give it form and volume. It was fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s as a modern development of the crinoline.

The umbrella’s original purpose was to protect us from the sun (parasol); in French there is still a semantic difference between ombrelle (provider of shade) and parapluie (shield against the rain). Invented by the Egyptians to protect pharaohs and high…

(Union Franµaise des Arts du Costume). Association founded in 1948 by Franµois Boucher, a curator from the Carnavelet Museum, and textile and clothing manufacturers. UFAC’s collections belong to the Musée des Arts de la Mode and the Musée des Arts…

Ready-to-wear label, the brainchild of Roger Lee and Lesley Sealey, both born in 1972. Roger graduated in fashion design from Kingston University and went on to specialize in women’s clothing through a Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art…

Shop founded in 1996 in Kollwitplatz Berlin, an area of bars, restaurants and trendy boutiques. It showcases young Berliner designers. Specialized in women’s clothing, it also offers street-styles for men. However, the boutique’s real speciality is wedding dresses that it…

Laura (1961). Italian designer. She defines her collections as “a cultural mix of old Europe and intellectual California.” In 1986 she moved from Rome to Los Angeles where she designed her first collection of swimwear, and five years later opened…

Ready-to-wear label created by the Vietnamese Thuy Quang Pham (1968) with his partner Miho. who deals with research into textiles and production processes. Thuy studied at Cooper Union in New York where he graduated in architecture. Straight after his degree…