Emilio Pucci’s swirling, dazzlingly colored prints became a symbol of jet-set pizzazz in the 50s and 60s, with a clientele of celebrities and contessas filling their closets and Vuitton trunks with the label’s palazzo pyjamas, dresses, scarves, ski clothes and swimwear.
Pucci was 20th-century Florence’s answer to the Renaissance man, excelling across disciplines, his accomplishments ranging from sport (he was on Italy’s Olympic ski team) and car racing to academia (he earned a doctorate from the University of Florence). But his greatest renown came from the world of fashion and design, where he was known unofficially as the “prince of prints,” although as the scion of a storied aristocratic Florentine family he held a real title, too—Marchese di Barsento.
