Nicola Trussardi
{{Short description|Italian fashion entrepreneur (1942–1999)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Nicola Trussardi
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| image = File:Nicola Trussardi.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|06|17}}
| birth_place = Bergamo, Lombardy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|04|14|1942|06|17}}
| death_place = Milan
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| education = BA Commerce and Economics
| alma_mater = Catholic University of Milan
| occupation = Fashion designer
| years_active = 1970–1999
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| known_for = Expanding the Trussardi fashion line internationally
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| spouse = Marialuisa Trussardi
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Nicola Trussardi (June 17, 1942 – April 14, 1999) was an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. He took over the Trussardi fashion line in 1970 and built the small glove-maker into an international brand. He also led the restoration of the Marino alla Scala in Milan. The Nicola Trussardi Foundation was named in his honor.
Early life
Trussardi was born in Bergamo, Lombardy. In 1968 Trussardi graduated from the Catholic University of Milan in Commerce and Economics.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/16/business/nicola-trussardi-56-who-led-family-fashion-house-in-italy.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=April 16, 1999 |title=Nicola Trussardi, 56, Who Led Family Fashion House in Italy |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |author=Enid Nemy}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEZQAAAAMAAJ&q=Nicola+Trussardi+Catholic+University+of+Milan |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |page=168 |title=Profilo Italia: Un Certo Stile Made in Italy : Design, Arte, Creatività Italiana in Mostra a Torino: Catalogo Della Mostra, Torino, 10-25 Novembre 1990, Palazzo Vela |year=1990 |author=Armando Testa and Mario Garbuglia|isbn=9788885215092 }}
Career
In 1970, he started working in his family's glove-making business, which was founded in 1910 by his grandfather Dante Trussardi, following the death of his older brother. Near the end of the 1970s he took the business over entirely after the death of his father.{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23733630.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924191219/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23733630.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |title=Nicola Trussardi |publisher=The Herald |date=April 27, 1999}} Trussardi turned it into a major company that helped contribute to the popularity of the made-in-Italy label throughout the world. He expanded Trussardi's product line beyond gloves to include luxury accessories, and in 1973 he created Trussardi's spiky greyhound logo. A few years later, Trussardi launched a line of leather jackets, the first step toward a ready-to-wear line which, by the 1980s, encompassed womenswear, menswear, sportswear and children's wear. In 1985 the once small family business was now worth $182 million, and he had opened about 120 stores and franchises around the world, with Trussardi owning ten of them himself. Trussardi personally took on some of the special projects the company was hired to do, such as designing airplane and helicopter interiors.{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-3950745.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155041/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-3950745.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |title=Designs on US expansion inspire Nicola Trussardi |publisher=WWD |date=September 26, 1985}}
In 1988, Trussardi outfitted the Italian athletes competing in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.{{cite web |url=http://www.ultimateitaly.com/fashion/nicola-trussardi.html |accessdate=May 27, 2014 |title=Nicola Trussardi |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529201004/http://www.ultimateitaly.com/fashion/nicola-trussardi.html |archivedate=May 29, 2013 }} Then in 1989, Trussardi used his collection to protest both the deforestation of the world's rainforests, and the use of real animal fur by his contemporaries. He used exclusively faux-fur, and included letters of protest against deforestation in the entrance bags given to the attendees of that year's fashion shows.{{cite news |url=http://articles.philly.com/1989-03-08/news/26131116_1_fake-fur-sheared-beaver-mink |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029005429/http://articles.philly.com/1989-03-08/news/26131116_1_fake-fur-sheared-beaver-mink |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 29, 2014 |title=Top Designers Are Cozying Up To Fake Furs Anti-fur Sentiment In Milan May Lack The Fire Of The U.s. Movement. But In Fall Shows, The Fashion World Is Making A Statement For Animal Rights |author=Jill Gerston |accessdate=May 27, 2014 |newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer}} Throughout his career, Trussardi spent time promoting the marketing phrase "Made in Italy" and Italian fashion in general.{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54398318.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155501/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54398318.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |title=NICOLA TRUSSARDI DEAD AT 56 |publisher=WWD |date=April 15, 1999 |author=Samantha Conti}} By the time of Trussardi's death in 1999, his business was worth about $480 million.{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-21587516.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924175612/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-21587516.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |title=Head To Foot: Essence Is Detail |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |date=April 20, 1999 |author=Suzy Menkes}} He was also a costume designer for play productions staged in both Europe and the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-16-mn-28043-story.html|title=Nicola Trussardi; Head of Italian Fashion Accessories Firm Dies in Traffic Accident|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=November 12, 2017}}
Trussardi also designed costumes for the stage, including a November 1985 production at Teatro Valle, Rome, of “Bestia da Stile” by Pier Paolo Pasolini, a September 1986 production at Verona Arena, Verona, of “Macbeth” by Giuseppe Verdi, and a September 1987 International Ballet Gala at the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa.{{cite book |title=Firme in passerella - Italian style, moda e spettacolo |author=Giancarlo Grossini |publisher=edizioni Dedalo |year=1986 |page=216}}
Marino alla Scala
File:PALAZZO TRUSSARDI photo.jpeg
In 1996 Trussardi restored the Marino alla Scala, located beside the La Scala opera house in Milan, which now contains several different establishments, including a Trussardi boutique and showroom. He originally purchased the building in 1989, and spent about $67 million over seven years to have the complex completed. During the construction, the municipal government attempted to extort money from Trussardi through major fines and slow bureaucratic responses. The property was originally built in 1876, and was restored by Dutch artists Ben Van Os and Rainer Van Brummelen in the neo-mannerist style. The first exhibition to be held in the gallery was a series of 105 sketches by Pablo Picasso.{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18711182.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924145938/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18711182.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Trussardi builds his dream palazzo |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |publisher=WWD |date=September 25, 1996 |author=Samantha Conti}}
Initiatives
File:Fondazione Trussardi photo.jpg
Trussardi has undertaken many other initiatives, including the creation of the Palatrussardi in Milan, which has hosted a number of pop and rock concerts, including that of Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, and Sammy Davis Jr. Other projects included a specially fitted-out Mini, produced by Innocenti. The Nicola Trussardi Foundation is a non-profit institution for the promotion of contemporary art and culture under the direction of president Beatrice Trussardi. Since 2003 the Foundation has decided to concentrate its resources on the realization of contemporary art events in the public spaces of the city of Milano. In 2009 the foundation sponsored an art exhibition at the Venice Biennale curated by Daniel Birnbaum, featuring a sound installation by Roberto Cuoghi.{{cite web |url=http://www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.it/53_BIENNALE_VENEZIA_1.html |title=LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA – 53. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte |accessdate=June 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026185029/http://www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.it/53_BIENNALE_VENEZIA_1.html |archive-date=October 26, 2014 |url-status=dead }} It celebrated its tenth anniversary at the Venice Biennale as well in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewyooxer.yoox.com/it/yooxdiary/trussardi-venice-biennale/|title=YOOX | Shop Fashion / Design+Art|website=thenewyooxer.yoox.com|accessdate=November 12, 2017}}
Trussardi himself also advocated for an area of Milan to be demarcated the "Citta della Moda", where all Milanese designers would have boutiques and which would house all future fashion shows for the city's fashion companies and labels. The project was abandoned after Trussardi's death, and several Milanese designers have since constructed their own private showcase spaces.{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-213507254.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924175552/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-213507254.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |accessdate=May 27, 2014 |title=New luxury area expected to fill city's retail gap |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |date=February 21, 2013 |author=JJ MARTIN}}
Personal life
Trussardi was a supporter of the arts in Milan, and a collector of fine sculpture. Trussardi owned a villa on the island of Elba, where he frequently entertained. Trussardi had four children, two daughters and two sons with his wife Marialuisa, who worked alongside Nicola his whole professional life as the company's creative director. His hobbies included racing speed boats and flying his Citation II aircraft as a licensed amateur pilot. Trussardi was killed when he lost control of his Mercedes-Benz on Tangenziale Est of Milan and hit a lamp post in the early hours of 13 April 1999. He died the following day in Milan.{{cite web|url=http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/?c=ireland&jp=idojqlsney|title=Head of Italian fashion house dies | Irish News | Breaking News from Ireland|website=breakingnews.iol.ie|accessdate=November 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620081102/http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/?c=ireland&jp=idojqlsney|archive-date=June 20, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-17580324.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924185517/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-17580324.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Designer injured |publisher=Birmingham Evening Mail |date=April 13, 1999 |accessdate=May 28, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23735260.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924191221/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23735260.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Fashion designer dies |publisher=The Herald |accessdate=May 28, 2014 |date=April 15, 1999}}
Filmography
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.trussardi.com/ Trussardi's official site]
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Category:Businesspeople from Bergamo
Category:Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore alumni
Category:Fashion designers from Milan
Category:Italian fashion designers