Fercioni

Giovanni (1886-1961). Italian tailor and owner of a famous high fashion tailoring shop in Milan. The son of an employee of the Royal House of Savoy at the estate in San Rossore, he had cultivated his style of dress ever since childhood, when he had become fascinated by the elegant yet casual clothes that the Royal family and its guests would wear when hunting. He applied his first stitches to the red jackets worn by the princes during the hunt. By 1906, he was in Milan working in a men’s tailoring shop and he became an expert in the manufacture of tailcoats and tuxedos. In 1910 he opened his first atelier. Among his clients were famous personalities of journalism and show business, from Renato Simoni to Nicola Zingarelli and Adolfo Cotronei. It was Simoni, the theater critic of the Corriere della Sera, who convinced him to devote himself to women’s fashion, sending him his first clients. He started with tailored suits, went on to evening dresses embroidered with crepe georgette, and then to the great evening and wedding dresses that would become his specialty. Maria Pezzi, in her autobiography Una vita dentro la moda (‘A Life Inside Fashion’) says, “It was 1924. I was 16. At the time, a very romantic comedy was all the rage: L’alba, il giorno e la notte, with Dario Niccodemi. With three acts and just two characters, it was performed by Vera Vergani and Luigi Cimara. Vera would wear a Fercioni dress, a very short sleeveless fourreau in white marocain with a very deep V-neck in front and back, with a short flared robe on the hips and everything framed by an edging of silver straw. It was so beautiful, so fantastic.” He dressed actresses such as Marta Abba, Elsa Merlini (he created her costumes for the film La segretaria privata, 1931), and Isa Miranda, both on stage and off. His extraordinary talent was documented in drawings by Dudovich in 1910, Sacchetti in 1920, Ester Sormani in 1930, Grau and Pallavicini in 1949 (for Bellezza magazine), and, in the 1950s, by Maria Pezzi. It is a history of style told by the best fashion illustrators. In 1952, he was invited, with the tailors and designers of the new generation, to represent the emerging Italian fashion industry in New York. His model was Luciana Angiolillo. Elsa Martinelli also wore his clothes in the 1950s. In 1960, Fercioni celebrated 60 years in business with a great party. After his death, his sons Aldo and Ruggero continued their father’s work and moved the firm’s headquarters from Corso Matteotti to via Santo Spirito, near Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi. They closed the firm in 1973. Fercioni’s grandson, Gian Maurizio Fercioni, is a theater costume designer.