Florentine designer Stefano Ricci was born in 1949 to a family of entrepreneurs in the fashion industry. He had one passion : collecting ties, especially Hermès. Following this passion, he decided to create his own designs at a very young age and actually soon produced a collection of ties in the manufacturing facilities of his parents. That's how he started his eponymous label in 1971. The philosophy guiding Stefano Ricci, in the pursuit of his vision, has always been to firmly believe that clothes handmade in Italy must remain synonymous with classic sartorial style. Thus the company’s efforts have been focusing on achieving the highest quality level, from the selection of raw materials and handcraft tailoring to the creation of the designs. To ensure this supreme excellence, the whole manufacturing process has been and is still strictly maintained within the company in Italy. Ancient shuttle looms are used by the corporate weavers to create the silk patterns : in one hour, they produce just enough fabric for two ties. And after launching the production of shirts in 1980, Stefano Ricci started his clothing collections in 1997. While maintaining severe sartorial canons of indisputable elegance, his fashion stands out for its elements : a natural shape of particular lightness, softness and wearability; and the dartless jacket construction, which confers a seamless and neat look especially on pin-striped and checkered fabrics. Stefano Ricci works in a world of his own, outside the colorful galaxy of the fashion system, moving in what could be considered as the wonderland for a very happy few. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the label, this season's collection is a tribute to Jack Vettriano's dandies. One of Britain’s most popular and successful living artists and dubbed 'the people’s painter', born (1951) and raised in a Scottish mining town, Jack Vettriano intended to work underground as a mining engineer until a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolors and his career sharply detoured into art. Needing to feel emotionally uncomfortable to create his edgy, atmospheric dramas, the self-taught artist often listens to Leonard Cohen’s requiems while he works. Known for toiling tirelessly until a painting is completed, he has sold more works than Dali, Monet or Van Gogh, and his sales set a record at Scotland Sotheby’s. The Stefano Ricci SS12 catalogue features images by Jack Vettriano and photographic re-interpretations shot by Fredi Marcarini featuring clothes and accessories from the current collection. A short film has been presented to commemorate the collaboration. It's a new chapter in Stefano Ricci's search for excellence. This catalogue is meant to accompany the customer on a journey through beauty, functionality and innovative solutions, where clothes and paintings are chromatically intertwined in a game where it's difficult to know who's inspiring who. "It is rare for a fashion creator not to measure himself against art, this is why we have decided to present a collection as told through Vettriano's works", said Filippo Ricci, the catalogue curator. Jack Vettriano created a new imaginary reality and, as so, the photographic direction has rendered the new Stefano Ricci collection worthy of a dream.
