Centinaro, Clara
Clara Centinaro (1914-1994), pseudonym of Chiarina Moglia, was an Italian high fashion designer, who also worked for Simonetta.
From Bedonia to Rome
Clara Centinaro was born and lived in Bedonia until her 20 years, in the old Vittorio Veneto contrada, in the “Portico” house, where she used to return every summer, as if her fame didn’t exist and nothing was changed. She was renowned because of her artisan and tailoring skills.
At the half of the ’30s she went to Rome, where she kept on doing her job also during the Second World War. There she married Mario Centinaro, who owned a renowned tailor’s shop. During her long career, she moved her atelier from via Margutta to via Lombardia and, in the end, in via Toscana.
An exceptional clientele
Her professional life radically changed at the half of ’50s, when Carla Gronchi, wife of the President of the Republic of the time, chose her as personal tailor. But it only was her first step: in 1957, after she conquered Argentina, she was chosen by Evita Peron too and her success in Venezuela was so much big that she opened a branch of her tailor’s shop in Caracas. Meanwhile her Rome atelier was frequented by Paola di Liegi, Donatella Pecci Blunt and Marta Marzotto, who also modeled for her.
From Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti to innovation on materials
In 1952, she took part to fashion shows in the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti and international buyers appreciated her work. She was able to innovate, at the point that, in 1956, she presented a mélange wool and silk dress-umbrella, with a wide cape collar supported by ribs. Then, in 1957-1958, she designed the pale green embroidered silk dress wore by Miss Universe. In the ’60s, instead, she tried to use new materials and to propose vanguard creations, like a short flared dress in transparent plastica and faux fur (1967). In the ’90s the Centinaro atelier was acquired by Litrico, which still today owns its archives.
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