Magnano

Angelo (1897-1973). Tailor, academic, researcher and fashion writer. Born in Licata (Agrigento). After working in Padua, he moved to Verona and bought out Mangioni, the historic Calabrian tailoring atelier. In addition to tailoring, he was passionate about, and made a particular study of, dress history. He collaborated with numerous magazines, including Lingua Nostra, and wrote Il taglio degli abiti attraverso la moda e il costume, e la storia delle sue basi fondamentali (bequeathed to the Maestrelli Foundation in Milan) and L’arte dei sartori in Verona, a history of tailoring in the city from 1290. Extending his research to include numerous national and international libraries (the Library of Congress in Washington, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and libraries in Dresden, Leipzig, Amsterdam, and Berlin), he obtained access to very valuable material. He donated his research to the public library in Verona, where there is now an exceptional collection of documents on the history of dress held in the Magnano archive. His sons, Luigi and Cesare, worked alongside him but the family ceased their tailoring activities in 1993.