Guidi

Giovanni Cesare (1908-1995). Italian tailor. Born near Faenza, he began his career as a model sketcher and cutter in Florence. After learning the first rules about sewing from his brother, a man’s tailor, he spent an apprenticeship period at the Florentine tailor’s workshop, Italia Bernardini, from 1937 to 1939. During the war years, he was in Paris where he met Dior in 1946, and worked as a model’s sketcher in the Fantechi atelier America, famous at the time for being the wardrobe supplier of Evita Peron. Once back in Italy, he opened his first tailor’s workshop in Borgo Ognissanti 37, where he remained until 1950 when he decided to move into the more luxurious rooms of the Palazzo Feroni-Spini in Via Tornabuoni 2, next to Ferragamo. This is where he stayed until the end of his career. As fashion creator, he proposed his models with the name of Cesare Guidi-Florence. He occasionally illustrated fashion for the La Nazione newspaper. He dressed many divas of Cinecittà during the Hollywood years in the Eternal City. He participated in the first exhibition of Italian high fashion in the White Room of the Pitti Palace in July 1952), and worked in close collaboration with, at the time the famous millinery, Gigi of Florence. Invited to all the most important events at the time, Guidi was particularly appreciated for the quality of his jackets and coats and his tailleurs with their impeccable and essential lines, as well as the originality of the materials, a result of a far-sighted alliance with the wool factory, Faliero Sarti of Prato. His clientele included some renowned names of the jetset scene and cinema: the Princesses of the House of Savoy and Susan Strasberg, the daughter of the founder of the Actor’s Studio of New York and actress in Kapò and The Diary of Anne Frank. From the early 1960s, the tailor added a successful boutique line to his high fashion line. In 1965 he also opened a young and innovative ready-to-wear Collection, making his debut with pioneering leather and suede garments blended with showy colored fabrics. Despite being very severely damaged by the flood of 1966, he continued his business with determination until 1976, when he retired for health reasons. In 1985 he donated a Collection of his creations and sketches to the Costume Gallery of Florence.