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Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Obit: 90; Giuliana Coen Camerino, Venetian Handbag Designer
 
In an interview with NY Times "bags to Riches" by Josh Patner,  Giuliana says she belongs to an old Venetian family, that they were Jewish, and that her parents were very beautiful and very stylish. She says that the atelier you are sitting in was once her grandfather's pigment factory and that she learned to compose colors here. She says that "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," from the film "Roberta," was the last song she danced to before fleeing for Switzerland, and that she took the professional name Roberta as a memento of those earlier, happy times.
Despite extensive research efforts, it is not possible to give greater information on Giuliana's flight from Italy to Neutral Switzerland, and whether it took place in 1938 (when Italy instituted Loyalty Oaths, she was 18), or 1943 (when Italy entered WWII, and she was 23), and how many members of her family accompanied her, and whether it was travel to avoid inconvenience of war, or opportunities in Switzerland, rather that supposed persecution or exile, as she claims. It is also difficult that this girl, from a wealthy family, was selling the clothes off her back to survive.
And where was the fashion house, called Roberta di Camerino, founded in 1945 (the end of WWII, when she was 25) in Venice or Switzerland?  From what Funds??
Italian Fashion Design
Italy currently leads the world in fashion and Milan is the capital of fashion in the world. Most of the older Italian couturiers are in Rome. However, Milan and Florence are the Italian fashion capitals, and it is the exhibition venue for their collections. Italian fashion features casual elegance and luxurious fabrics. The first Italian luxury brand was the Florentine Salvatore Ferragamo (who has exported exquisite hand-made shoes to the U.S. since the 1920s); among the best-known, exclusive fashion names, another Florentine Gucci is the greatest-selling Italian fashion brand, and third greatest in the world, with worldwide sales of $7.158 billion dollars.Other well-known Italian fashion houses include: Valentino Garavani, Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Emilio Pucci, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Borbonese, Prada, Loro Piana, Byblos, Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, Ermenegildo Zegna, La Perla, Agnona, Laura Biagiotti, Lancetti, Iceberg, Carlo Pignatelli, MIla Schön, Roberta di Camerino, Krizia, Trussardi and Missoni. Even though Milan is the national and worldwide capital of fashion, Rome, Florence, Turin, Naples and Venice also contain many high-end fashion boutiques and are international capitals.

French Fashion Design
Most French fashion houses are in Paris, which is the capital of French fashion. Traditionally, French fashion is chic and stylish, defined by its sophistication, cut, and smart accessories. Among the many Parisian couture houses are Balmain, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Balenciaga and Chloé, Paris is symbolically the home of fashion, yet the Global Language Monitor in 2009, have placed it 3rd in the Media, after Milan and New York

Venetian Handbag Designer Giuliana Camerino dies
Associated Press; May 11, 2010

MILAN — Giuliana Coen Camerino, designer of handbags carried by Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and others, has died at 90.
Camerino died overnight in Venice, home of the fashion house she founded in 1945 called Roberta di Camerino. She suddenly took ill on the nearby peninsula of Istria, on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, according to a statement Tuesday by her fashion house.
Camerino is credited with making handbags a fashion item. Her distinctive and timeless bags would typically sport brass clasps created by Venetian craftsman who make accents for gondolas or be made of velvet woven on antique looms.
Born Coen, Camerino started designing handbags while in exile during World War II in Switzerland, where she fled to escape persecution of Jews in Italy. She created the name for her fashion house, which also made shoes and apparel, from the 1935 film "Roberta" starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and her husband's family name.
Her talents were recognized by the Whitney Museum of American Art with an exhibit in 1980.
Venice Mayor Giorgio Orsoni called Camerino a "friend and great Venetian entrepreneur ... who contributed to spreading the name of Venice and Made in Italy in the whole world."
She will be buried Thursday in Venice's Jewish cemetery. She is survived by a son, Ugo, and a daughter, Roberta.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5gKZCnBnmqGULUmvioNDJUKlNurBgD9FKPUIG0
 

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