Students in love with fashion

Nina Ricci was born Maria Nielli in Turin, Italy on January 14,1883, moved to Florence with her family at age 5 and in 1895 at age 12 they once again moved, then to France. She began an apprenticeship at a dressmaker's at the age of 13, and continued to pursue her love of fashion throughout her teenage years becoming the head of the salon at age 18, and chief designer at 22. She married jeweler Luigi Ricci in 1904, thus becoming Maria Ricci. In 1908 Nina joined the house of Raffin as a designer and where she remained for 20 years. She developed a partnership with Raffin, before moving on to create her own house in 1932.

She founded the House of Ricci along side her son Robert Ricci, who oversaw the operations of the business, while she designed. The company rapidly expanded due to her designs. Directly on the mannequin, she worked the fabrics to ensure they had the right shape once they were finished, she used any fabric as well creating elegant, refined, romantic that the house became renowned for.

Once the was ended in 1945, designers were looking for a way to revive the infatuation women had formerly had with haute couture, while raising money for war relief. Robert Ricci developed an idea which Lucien Lelong, President of the Chambre de Commerce, put into action. Mannequins from forty Paris couturiers, including Balenciaga and Madame Gres, were dressed in the labels' best fashions and were placed in an exhibition held at the Louvre, in Paris. After a huge success in Paris it toured Europe and then the USA.

Nearing the age of 70 in the early 1950s Nina Ricci withdrew from an active role in design, but chose to keep an eye on the house. In 1954, her son chose the new head designer the Belgian Jules-Francois Crahay. Maria Ricci died on November 30, 1970 at the age of 88.

Laura GALLEGO