Savorelli di Lauriano

Franco (1932). A marketing and PR expert who helped establish Italian fashion exports from its outset, for which Pitti Immagine Uomo rewarded him with a prize in 1996. Born in Milan, he studied economics in Genoa, took a Masters degree in business management and then, in 1958, began his collaboration with Helena Rubinstein, the American cosmetics giant, which lasted until 1997. For forty years, his career has been a series of successes: the extraordinary parties organized with Roberta di Camerino on San Giorgio island in Venice; the association he set up with Sergio Galeotti for Giorgio Armani from 1974 to 1980; his twenty-year working relationship and friendship with Mario Valentino; his collaboration with the Fendi sisters and designer Karl Lagerfeld; and promotion of the fashion shows held in the Sala Bianca in the Pitti Palace that led to the birth of the Italian ready-to-wear fashion industry. But Savorelli has not only been the éminence grise of famous fashion houses. In association with Beppe Modenese, he set up two prestigious international fairs in the 1970s: Idea Como and Idea Biella for drapery. In 1969, he established the fashion show Mare Moda Capri with Rudy Crespi, and the first Pitti Uomo in 1971, with the then president Franco Tancredi.