Giorgio di Sant' Angelo
Encyclopedia
Giorgio di Sant' Angelo, 1933-1989 (also known as Giorgio Sant'Angelo), was an Italian-born American
fashion designer. He was known for creating ethnic-inspired looks early in his career, for which he won the prestigious American Coty Fashion Critic's award in 1970. Using fabrics like tie-dye
d chiffon
, leather
& cotton
, he created romantic clothing that reflected the hippie culture of the era. But his innovative use of knitwear, which he continuously developed throughout his career, was often his signature and an influence on other designers.
, Italy
, as the son of a Florentine count. He took a degree in architecture
at the University of Florence
, then later studied industrial design
& ceramic
s. He also studied with Picasso
for six months, as the result of winning a prize sponsored by the French government. As a result of Picasso's encouragement, he made an animated cartoon, which he submitted to Walt Disney
. Impressed by the film's inventiveness, Disney brought him to Hollywood and gave him an apprenticeship
. But unable to speak English well, he was lost in the vastness of L.A.
and quit after 15 days.
after his experience at Disney. He first worked as textile art
ist, and later worked in interior design
. For fun, he started making Lucite & plastic
jewelry. Catherine de Montezemolo first noticed the jewelry, then later Diana Vreeland
, who started featuring it in Vogue magazine
. This set his career into motion. Ms. Vreeland recognized the talent that Sant'Angelo showed, and hired him as a freelance stylist. It was out of this collaboration that some of the most iconic fashion photographs of the 1960s were taken. Shots like the model Verushka wrapped in fur in the desert, or psychedelic
flower makeup around one of Twiggy
's eyes.
business in 1966. He experimented with knits, and developed new fabrications with textile mills like DuPont
. He also collaborated with textile converters like Crantex, to create his own prints, and leather makers like Calderon, for his accessories. He cited various native & ethnic cultures as the inspiration for his collections, like the American Indian
or the Bohemian Gypsy. But his most important contribution to modern women's clothing at the time was his liberating construction techniques and his use of stretch fabric
s. He rejected the traditional shift with the zipper-up-the-back, and instead, designed clothing that wrapped, tied, hung or clung to the body. He didn't simply design clothes, he ornamented the body and made fantasy wearable. He made couture
pieces for celebrities & entertainers as well. Eventually, he started to license his name and expand into cheaper, more affordable clothing. The first line was called Sant'Angelo 4U2, which were less expensive versions of his fantasy pieces. Then there was the 'Marjer Parts' line, which was also more affordable, but more trend-influenced. Later, he dropped the 'di' from his last name & licensed out his name as Giorgio Sant'Angelo. Unfortunately, much of that clothing did not have his own hand involved, and instead, was overly commercial and did not possess his innovative signature.
& Marc Jacobs
citing him as an influence. He was given a plaque on the '7th Avenue walk of fame' along with his contemporaries like Halston
and Stephen Burrows.
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
fashion designer. He was known for creating ethnic-inspired looks early in his career, for which he won the prestigious American Coty Fashion Critic's award in 1970. Using fabrics like tie-dye
Tie-dye
Tie-dye is a process of resist dyeing textiles or clothing which is made from knit or woven fabric, usually cotton; typically using bright colors. It is a modern version of traditional dyeing methods used in many cultures throughout the world. "Tie-dye" can also describe the resulting pattern or an...
d chiffon
Chiffon (fabric)
Chiffon, , from the French word for a cloth or rag, is a lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric woven of alternate S- and Z-twist crepe yarns. The twist in the crepe yarns puckers the fabric slightly in both directions after weaving, giving it some stretch and a slightly rough...
, leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
& cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, he created romantic clothing that reflected the hippie culture of the era. But his innovative use of knitwear, which he continuously developed throughout his career, was often his signature and an influence on other designers.
Early years
Sant' Angelo was born a nobleman in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, as the son of a Florentine count. He took a degree in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at the University of Florence
University of Florence
The University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...
, then later studied industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
& ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
s. He also studied with Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
for six months, as the result of winning a prize sponsored by the French government. As a result of Picasso's encouragement, he made an animated cartoon, which he submitted to Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
. Impressed by the film's inventiveness, Disney brought him to Hollywood and gave him an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
. But unable to speak English well, he was lost in the vastness of L.A.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and quit after 15 days.
New York
Sant' Angelo moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
after his experience at Disney. He first worked as textile art
Textile art
Textile art may refer to:*Any one of the textile arts, those arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects*Fiber art, the creation of fine art using textile arts techniques and materials...
ist, and later worked in interior design
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
. For fun, he started making Lucite & plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
jewelry. Catherine de Montezemolo first noticed the jewelry, then later Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman...
, who started featuring it in Vogue magazine
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
. This set his career into motion. Ms. Vreeland recognized the talent that Sant'Angelo showed, and hired him as a freelance stylist. It was out of this collaboration that some of the most iconic fashion photographs of the 1960s were taken. Shots like the model Verushka wrapped in fur in the desert, or psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
flower makeup around one of Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
's eyes.
Seventh Avenue
Sant'Angelo opened his own ready-to-wearReady-to-wear
Ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter is the term for factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items which are not clothing.Ready-to-wear has...
business in 1966. He experimented with knits, and developed new fabrications with textile mills like DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
. He also collaborated with textile converters like Crantex, to create his own prints, and leather makers like Calderon, for his accessories. He cited various native & ethnic cultures as the inspiration for his collections, like the American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
or the Bohemian Gypsy. But his most important contribution to modern women's clothing at the time was his liberating construction techniques and his use of stretch fabric
Stretch fabric
Stretch fabric is a term that refers to synthetic fabrics which stretch. Stretch fabrics are split into two categories: 2-way stretch and 4-way stretch....
s. He rejected the traditional shift with the zipper-up-the-back, and instead, designed clothing that wrapped, tied, hung or clung to the body. He didn't simply design clothes, he ornamented the body and made fantasy wearable. He made couture
Couture
-Places in France:* Couture, Charente, in the Charente département* Couture-d'Argenson, in the Deux-Sèvres département* Couture-sur-Loir, in the Loir-et-Cher département-People:* Randy Couture , American mixed martial arts fighter...
pieces for celebrities & entertainers as well. Eventually, he started to license his name and expand into cheaper, more affordable clothing. The first line was called Sant'Angelo 4U2, which were less expensive versions of his fantasy pieces. Then there was the 'Marjer Parts' line, which was also more affordable, but more trend-influenced. Later, he dropped the 'di' from his last name & licensed out his name as Giorgio Sant'Angelo. Unfortunately, much of that clothing did not have his own hand involved, and instead, was overly commercial and did not possess his innovative signature.
Comeback
In the mid-1980s, Sant'Angelo added the 'di' back to his last name & continued to design his high end signature line. Made almost entirely out of stretch knits, critics hailed it, confirming the return of his influence. The versatile, wrap stretch pieces of clothing, in unique materials, colors & patterns, proved an antidote to the overly tailored styles of the time. Unfortunately, Sant'Angelo died in 1989, so his comeback was short-lived. But his legend continues in the minds of modern-day fashionistas, with designers like John GallianoJohn Galliano
John Charles Galliano CBE, RDI is a Gibraltan-born British fashion designer who was best known as head designer of French haute couture houses Givenchy and Christian Dior , and his own self titled fashion house.-Family:He was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father, Juan Galliano, and a...
& Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
citing him as an influence. He was given a plaque on the '7th Avenue walk of fame' along with his contemporaries like Halston
Halston
Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...
and Stephen Burrows.
External links
- http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f116/1933-1989-giorgio-di-sant-angelo-41848.html