Gulp

Milanese boutique. It opened in April 1964 in Via Santo Spirito, and became a point of reference for the youth of the 1960s. The owner-designer Gabriella De Marco (her business partner is the sculptor Amalia Del Ponte, who decided the interior decor of the boutique using psychedelic lights, walls painted with undulating colored stripes, cardboard boxes as closets, a juke-box, and a bar) became the speaker of new trends, creating immediately successful designs in a small artisan dressmaker’s workshop. “Miniskirts,” wrote Maria Pezzi in a article for Donna, “the most audacious of these are worn when dancing the yé-yé, which has started to be popular, mariner pants that later appeared in high fashion, and jeanswear as bell-bottom trousers; skins, the first anti-classic leather that triumphed at Les Copains with Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday; blouses and handmade figurative or geometric T-“shirts.” In 1966 some models were dressed with mini dresses for the first time at La Scala’s theater opening night, which caused a scandal. Gulp is also the favorite fashion of stars in showbusiness, from Caterina Caselli to Mina, from Ornella Vanoni to Carla Fracci. Still today this name is a synonym of personal style independent from fashion. Her most important and meaningful pieces are blouses, often inspired by artistic avant-gardes.