Website: www.krizia.net

Mariuccia Mandelli (shown here on the upper left) was born in Bergamo, Italy in 1933. From the eight of 8 she was making dresses for her dolls. She spent a lot of her childhood time in a friend's dressmaking shop. She had trained as a teacher, and had begun selling skirts and dresses in 1951. Krizia is named after Plato's discourse on the vanity of women. With a friend Flora Dolci, she rented two rooms in Milan which became her first design studio and workshop.

In 1954, helped by her husband Aldo Pinto, she formed a company Kriziamaglia, in Milan, Italy. Her clothes were quite successful. In 1957, she included a series of fruit print dresses. In 1964, she showed a striking black and white collection at the Pitti Palace in Florence. She branched out into knitwear designs in 1967 and later into complete ranges of ready-to-wear clothes.

Walter Albini worked at Krizia from 1960 to 1963 and Aldo Ferrante was also a designer there in the late 60's. Mariuccia Mandelli always has the strong support of her husband Aldo Pinto, who looks after organization and commercial coordination.

Krizia's designs are always distinctive, clever, light-hearted and witty. They manage to retain considerable grace and glamour. Mandelli says : "there is often a sense of architecture in my clothing - one of my collections was inspired by the Chrysler Building".

In the 70's Mandelli's signature animal motif began to feature each season on many garments. Krizia has now become a giant of the Milan fashion scene. Over 50 collections a year are created for the various Krizia labels, including menswear, childrens wear, knitwear, glasses, handbags, ties, perfumes, kitchen furniture and much more.

Mariucci Mandelli was honoured with the title Commendore of the Italian Republic in 1986.

Greg Myler was the designer for Krizia from 1987 to 2000, when he left to join Mila Schon. Gianbattista Valli was the designer for the house of Krizia from 1995 to 1997, when he left to join Ungaro.

In 2000, the Israeli designer Alber Elbaz, took over as chief designer at Krizia, after leaving YSL Rive Gauche ready-to-wear. However after only one brilliant collection, he left as they could not agree on terms. Elbaz went on to Lanvin.

He was followed by Belgian designer Jean-Paul Knott, who joined Krizia in November 2001. However in February 2002, he parted from Krizia for reasons unknown. He had only designed two collections for Krizia.

Hamish Morrow

Mariuccia Mandelli, who is still very much a hands-on designer at her house, brought in English designer Hamish Morrow to add fresh ideas to the design. He is shown here on the right, and you can read about his career by clicking on his name.

Spring/Summer 2003

The Krizia ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2003 collection was presented during the Milan Fashion Week in October 2002 which was very well received. This is an outfit from that collection.

Fall/Winter 2003

The Krizia Fall show was held during Milan Fashion Week in March 2003. On the right is an outfit from the show.

Morrow stayed true to the spirit of Krizia, celebrated for its sophisticated knitwear. He mixed double-face wools, metallic python and thick leather with chiffons and crepe. His hand could be seen in the drapery and cashmere gauze pieces poetically overlaid with cloudy tiers of chiffon.

Spring/Summer 2004

The Krizia show was held during Milan Fashion Week in October 2003. On the left is an outfit from the show.

Morrow is a modernist with an interest in technical fabrics and his hand was evident in details like leather parachute harnesses on dresses and swimwear. His eye for bright, jarring colour combinations showed too. The collection included biker pants, white leather zippered bodices, and body-hugging dresses. Hamish Morrow took a bow with Mariuccia at the end of the show.

Morrow leaves

In February 2004 Hamish Morrow left Krizia as he said he found it impossible to fulfil his vision for the label. Mariuccia Mandelli would now oversee the label's artistic direction with the help of a team of young designers.

Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear

Mariuccia presented her Fall collection for the house of Krizia in Milan during Fashion Week in February 2004. An outfit from the show is pictured on the right. She was inspired to use a Biker look, with lots of leather hotpants and jackets, and long thigh-high patterned boots.

Hotel Design

Mariuccia Mandelli has a part-time activity, designing hotels. She designed the K Clube which looks like a film set, and has in fact been used for shoots on many occasions. It is on the Caribbean island of Bermuda. Mandelli says that the creative approach is the same whether you are designing clothes or buildings.

Spring/Summer 2005

During Milan Fashion Week in September 2004, the house of Krizia presented their Spring collection. A pretty dress from the collection is shown on the left.

The collection included good tailoring, softened in cut with ob sashes at the waist. Gauzy off-th-shoulder blouses with formal shorts was a sleek look. The house symbol of a tiger's head appeared on Glitter dresses, short and long were a homage to Asia where the inspiration for this collection was formed.

Autumn/Winter 2005

The Krizia Autumn/Winter collection was presented during Milan Fashion Week in February 2005. The house was thinking big, huge kimonos, all-enveloping knits, baggy tweed pants and white cotton shirt, definitely staying with the volume idea which is this season's big thing. Some of the clothes reminded on the eighties when Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto introduced this look. Playing with prportion, jackets shrunk to shoulder shrugs and a vest was under a tuxedo jacket. Mini versions had a silver surface or metallic colour palette. Some chainmail garments, like the one on the right, reminded of Paco Rabanne at his most successful.

Spring/Summer 2006
Milan Fashion Week

The team at Krizia presented their Spring/Summer 2006 collection during Milan Fashion Week in September 2005.

On the left is a dress from the collection, a long sleeveless printed chiffon creation with a deep neckline, over a silk undergown.

Krizia had turned to Africa as inspiration, and the collection was striking with make-up, hairstyles and tribal jewelry. The blue and brown colours gave simple outfits punch.