Sorelle Botti 1911-1959
Sorelle Botti: Roman tailoring of Augusta and Fernanda
Sorelle Botti is a Roman haute couture tailor’s shop opened by the sisters Augusta Carlotta and Fernanda Botti in 1911, in via del Babuino.
After 16 years, the atelier was moved to via Saverio Mercadante, then, from 1959 until it closed, to corso Italia at 36. They bought croquis or finished models in Paris. Some clothes were of their own making. Every six months, Sorelle Botti paraded at the Grand Hotel in Rome, for clients from all over Italy.
The history of the Botti sisters is dotted with important dresses for prominent clients, such as Queen Elena and the ladies of the court, and for clients of the upper middle class. Celebrate their wedding dresses and ceremonial and grand evening outfits, for the premieres at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. Until the 1940s, the House also made furs .
Sorelle Botti obtain supplies in Paris where, after having attended the French haute couture shows, they buy the most interesting garments to reproduce them at the request of their customers. In Rome they participate in the fashion shows of the Grand Hotel in via Veneto. The society news magazine, Le Carnet Mondain , documents its successes, with the publication of the most prominent weddings. The atelier — 140 workers in the laboratory and work organized in two shifts — is practically active 24 hours a day. Mario Vigolo has been a draftsman for years. In the immediate post-war period, a part of the upper middle class remained faithful to the maison.
Worth mentioning, among others, is the wardrobe of Palma Bucarelli, the superintendent of the National Gallery of Modern Art, donated to the Museum of Decorative Arts of the 19th and 20th centuries: it includes two dresses made by Sorelle Botti on croquis by Balenciaga and by Elsa Schiaparelli .
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