Curiel
Raffaella Curiel (1943). Italian designer. From her family in Trieste (the atelier owned by Hortense in Palazzo Liberty next to Umberto Saba’s bookshop was frequented by the high society of mittel-Europea in the early 1900s) she derived her cosmopolitan taste and a levity tempered by irony. From her uncle Eugenio, an anti-fascist martyr, and from her aunt Grazia, a promoter of the Milanese Casa della Cultura, she inherited a sense of civil and political passion. From her mother Gigliola, a dressmaker in Milan since 1945 and during the 1950s and 1960s an important resource for the rich and elegant ladies of that Italian capital of money, she learned the wisdom of the profession and the difficult art of dressing women in a pleasing way. At first she wanted to be a doctor, but instead, in 1961, Raffaella, nicknamed Lella, designed her first Collection. Since 1970, she has offered a high fashion and prêt-à-porter griffe: feminine and balanced lines are typical of her celebrated tailored suits and plissé dresses. For several years she has devoted herself especially to haute couture.
The municipality of Rome awards her the Lupa d’Oro prize.
Inspired by Russia and St. Petersburg, her haute couture Winter Collection is presented at Palazzo Visconti in Milan. It had already been presented in July in Rome at Villa Abamelek on the premises of the Russian Embassy. There were military busbies and cloaks, in silk and precious embroideries. An evening dress, embroidered all over with sequins, reproduced Red Square in Moscow. Some 60% of the turnover comes from exports to the U.S., where she has been doing business for 10 years. Sales were not affected by the downturn, not even after September 11th.
The Milanese designer is the guest of honor and ambassador of the Made in Italy movement in New Delhi, India on the occasion of a two-day celebration dedicated to a half-century of Italian fashion. On October 20th, in Jaipur, she is the guest of her Royal Majesty the Maharani of Jaipur and her daughter Dia, in the Royal Palace that was opened especially in her honor. The designer presented clothes created with antique saris.