THE HOUSE OF PUCCI

Keeping the family history alive, Laudomia Pucci turns Palazzo Pucci into a hub of her father’s legacy

- Chit L Lijauco

In 1947, the Marquis Emilio Pucci established his headquarters inside his family’s palazzo in Florence, Italy. He was just entering the world of fashion after photographs of his designs of vibrant ski uniforms for himself and his girlfriend landed on the desk of the legendary fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Diana Vreeland.

At the Palazzo Pucci, models and sewers brought the Neapolitan aristocrat’s designs to life. Here, too, Pucci’s daughter Laudomia received her early immersion in fashion. “To grow up with my father having models around the house, who were actually photographed on the roof next to my playroom, in incredible clothes and hairdos, was totally normal!” she said in the website of the Emilio Pucci Heritage Hub. “To know that we had fashion shows in the house and that I could hear clapping from two floors lower was normal.” Fast forward to 2017. The Pucci headquarters had moved to Milan after 70 years in the Palazzo in Florence. By this time, the family had already partnered with LVMH who, in five years’ time, would totally take over the brand. “As the Pucci HQ moved to Milano, I started working on an education project involving the archives and the heritage of the brand, asking young talents to create a new narrative through events, presentations and products,” Laudomia tells Tatler. “This led to a collaboration with Bonaveri [the mannequin company] and a publication with Rizzoli called Unexpected Pucci.”

It also led to the transformation of the 13th-century Palazzo Pucci into the Heritage Hub, a centre dedicated to perpetuate the brand’s history and create an archive for the future, as well as carrying out Pucci’s legacy of collaborations.