Pucci’s Vivid Return to Favor : Fashion: The current passion for ‘60s style has brought Emilio Pucci back to the forefront of design. But the ‘Prince of Prints’ has far more on his mind than clothes--such as art, ethics and the future.
There is a man who has probably saved the lives of millions of people. The man who discovered penicillin. You ask 100 people today if they know his name, they won’t know. But if you ask who Bill Blass is or Dior, they know. Now let’s get things in the right light. Can you compare what (bacteriologist Sir Alexander) Fleming has done . . . with anything that has been done in fashion? --Emilio Pucci, fashion designer
Emilio Pucci, the Florentine Renaissance man whose mark on styles of the 1960s was as euphoric and revolutionary as the Beatles’ impact on music, is suddenly back in fashion.
As other top Italian designers preview their spring 1991 collections in Milan this week, Pucci, perhaps the hottest name of all at this moment, has no plan to be included. Members of the press and store buyers curious about his latest creations will have to trek to his Florence showroom to see them.
Thirty years ago, the Italian master offered color-crazed, eye-popping, geometric-printed clothing he developed from the ground up. He used clingy, virtually weightless silk jersey that became wearable Pop Art when matched with his designs, attracting such divergent customers as Gloria Steinem and Marilyn Monroe, who was buried in one of his outfits.
Now swept up in the tidal wave of ‘60s love-in looks, Pucci’s combination of electric colors and clean, racy shapes are re-attracting hordes of young customers--and their mothers. Department stores carrying the Pucci label can’t keep the clothes in stock. Nor can Pucci’s own boutiques worldwide, including the one right around the corner from his family palace here, on Via de Pucci in downtown Florence.
Within the last year, vintage Puccis, saved by his customers of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, have become sought-after collectibles, especially those famed, silk jersey, Op Art tights from the psychedelic period when Pucci became known as “the prince of prints.”
And then there are all those knockoffs. The adventuresome, 75-year-old aristocrat--who also has been a member of Italy’s Olympic ski team, served as a torpedo bomber in World War II and spent more than a decade in the Italian parliament--doesn’t say much about the fact that his styles are now being copied as furiously as Chanel handbags and Bart Simpson T-shirts.
But what he does bring up, indignantly, is that top designers from Milan to Paris are now knocking him off and charging far more for Pucci-like prints than he charges for the originals. (His Lycra-laced body suits cost $220. Christian Lacroix showed one, inspired by Pucci, for $465.)
A member of one of Florence’s oldest families (his official title is the Marchese di Barsento), Pucci believes it is the duty of “whoever is privileged by birth, by money, by nationality and by health to help those who are not privileged--in anything you do, even a stupid little work like fashion.”
Although he is best known for his accomplishments in fashion and at one time had his light-hearted designs on everything from Lincoln Continentals to Parker pens, he does not appear to be the carefree, playful spirit one might expect. The man who created the ultimate ‘60s outfit--the curve-hugging, hallucinogenic mini dress--is no lightweight. And today, at least, he would rather talk philosophy, history, art, ethics, the future.
When he talks fashion, it’s sideways, as when he repeatedly emphasizes his quest to keep quality high and prices within the budgets of many people, not just the privileged few. Indeed, for designer goods that are well constructed and clearly unique, his clothes are considered true bargains.
For example, a pair of Pucci’s printed leggings sell for $75 at Pucci boutiques--when they have them in stock. Cotton panties, printed with the trademark, geometric Pucci prints, can be picked up for $12 or $15 a pair in Italy.
“Fashion is an activity which has grown from something very sensible into something which I won’t define,” Pucci declared, insinuating that he finds many of the trends in the industry loathsome.
Sitting behind his desk in his office at the sumptuous, 1,000-year-old Palazzo Pucci, where he lives and works, his feet were propped on a footstool. He apologized for it (and the cane he was temporarily using), explaining that he is still recovering from a recent, 47-day hospital stay for a mysterious nervous condition that surfaced after two sporting accidents (he was thrown from a horse, then injured himself diving).
Pucci was dressed classically in a navy jacket, gray slacks and white shirt, enlivened with one of his own printed silk neckties. And even though he had spent 18 hours the day before on a work jaunt to Germany, he was energetic and eager to explore an eclectic range of subjects.
Among them:
* World politics, particularly his trip the day before, in which he had participated in an emotional, reunification-of-Germany fashion celebration: “It was unbelievable. I went as a duty and turned out to perform something which made (citizens of East Germany and West Germany) feel that they were together.”
* An encounter last year with England’s Queen Mother Elizabeth, who showed him how to ward off mosquitoes by using homeopathic drugs.
* A project for an airplane able to fly 25,000 m.p.h., “which means Tokyo to New York: 19 minutes.” But to Pucci, this possibility is far more than just the latest time cruncher for the ultra jet set. Rather, he sees it as another example of how the speed of modern society will ultimately make war obsolete: “Tokyo to New York may be the same distance (in time) as Long Island is from the center of New York. Can you conceive of conditions that are diametrically opposed when the world is becoming as big as the city of New York?”
Coaxed back to the subject for which he is best known and is currently being heralded, Pucci initially concentrated on what he sees as the fashion industry’s most negative developments.
“Something strange is happening today,” he insisted, in tones as dramatic as the blue notes in his necktie. “I won’t mention the (designer’s) name, but I’ve seen this on television. A model walks out in an impeccable black suit. She turns around and how is the suit in the back? Two ribbons. She’s completely naked. Now that suit cost $20,000.
“Another French designer--you could see the panties under the skirts. This is ridiculous,” he continued, attributing such concoctions to the intentional exploitation of insecure customers who “have to be boosted up by buying things which are horrible, badly made and look ridiculous.”
A Roman Catholic who received a master’s degree in social science from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florence, Pucci also is offended by the public performances of the American who is now perhaps his most famous client: Madonna.
“I think the greatest gift the Lord made to man is a woman,” he said at the mention of of Madonna’s name. “And I was shocked to find a picture of Madonna (in a sexually explicit pose). I think this is a most incredible thing.” (On stage and in photographs, Madonna has been frequently seen in provocative poses, among them a cover of Interview magazine earlier this year in which she was grabbing her crotch.)
“Apparently, she arrived in London, looked all over London (for Puccis) and bought everything she found. (Photographers) went around and pictured her, and they sent me a cable about it, and I answered, ‘I’m glad she’s finally dressed elegantly and discreetly,’ ” he said.
The “new” Pucci look uses the same, nearly weightless, form-fitting silk jerseys the designer developed in the 1950s, but there have been some changes. He now collaborates with his daughter, Laudomia Pucci, 29, who serves as vice president of his design firm.
“He does the prints and the fabrics,” said the younger Pucci. “The newer prints are much stronger and much less detailed than those of the ‘60s. They’re not as wild and crazy, but they’re definitely more modern than they were in the ‘60s. They’re pure, and there’s more intensity. I work with him on the styles. We do the accessories together. It’s very much a family business.”
She and her father now turn out three collections a year (resort, spring-summer, fall-winter). They have no plans to show with other European designers at shows in either Paris or Milan because, as she put it, “it’s too expensive” and goes against her father’s philosophy of selling his wares at reasonable prices.
Instead, the Puccis have chosen to work with clients in showrooms in New York and Florence, distributing on “a very exclusive basis around the world” through just a few department stores.
In Los Angeles, for example, Pucci styles are sold at Neiman Marcus. But don’t look for a Pucci boutique to open in Los Angeles or Beverly Hills. (The only Pucci boutique in the United States is in New York City; there are only three others in the world, all in Italy.)
“I’m not going to open a store ever again,” the designer claimed.
He pointed out that in the last few years, he has closed four or five stores around the world because rents have skyrocketed to about $300,000 or $400,000 a year. He also estimated that costs for insurance, taxes, utility and personnel add another $100,000 or more.
“If I have to spend half a million dollars for a store, how much do I have to charge for a a skirt made in the worst fabric: $200? $500? If something costs $5 to make, why should it cost $25 to sell it?”
Asked what he would like to do instead of expanding his boutiques, Pucci indicated he would prefer to continue doing what he hopes to be remembered for: “bringing joy to people’s lives.”
“I have several dresses that weigh under 100 grams, which is under 3 ounces. You can take the dress, put it in your pocket, come out of the office, go to the bathroom, wash, make up and put it on and you’re ready for dinner,” he said, noting no basic differences between his work of 30 years ago and that of today.
“When you put on something with color, suddenly you feel happy and rested. You go out with a man, and he gets joy from how you look. I’m not giving you a dress. I’m giving an element of joy to you, which is much more important than a stupid dress.”
