Italian Princess Made Good In Fashion World

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28869, 14 April 1959, Page 2

Italian Princess Made Good In Fashion World

The person behind the name of the Roman fashion house Carosa is Princess Giovana Caracciolo d’Avellino Ginetti. an energetic, fair-haired woman' with a deceptive air of busy inconsequence, writes Anita Christopherson in the “Scotsman.” Like so many of the European aristocratic families of this generation, the Princess was left at the end of the war with the ruins of her family house and its treasures as the bitter evidence of the end of a way of life.

“I felt,” the Princess says, “that it was important not only to work myself, indeed that was essential, but also to give work. It was so badly needed.” And so after the war with two friends and a flair for clothes, the Princess began a fashion house in a small way As she patters cheerfully about among her staff, which now numbers 120. and her clients, who include the cream of Roman society, the Princess may appear to have the endearingly vague manner of a hostess organising a fractious house-party, .but when she fully brings her attention to bear it is clear, concise and directed unerringly on to the subject under discussion. It is no doubt this quality which has brought her such success, and her sane ability to concentrate on fundamentals. As soon as she decided to start in the fashion world Princess Caracciolo went to Paris where she studied nol only fashion, which she already understood, but the organisation of fashion as a business She knew she had the talent and the selection necessary for producing clothes for the kind of women with whom she had mixed all her life What she needed was the knowledge of how the whole mystique worked. Own Ideas When she began, the Princess based her clothes on the French fashions. That was what her; clients wanted, but gradually, as they saw her own ideas, they began to ask for these. Carosa had not shown' until in 1951 Signor Giorgini asked her if she would show in Florence at the Italian high fashion display which he organised in his own house Carosa was delighted, showed a few models and found, like the rest of the Italians there, that the i Americans who had been garnered in to see the collections were more than willing to place orders. Since then, she has worked up a clientele in America, South America and Germany. The Americans must have new, bright ideas and gimmicks, with an accent on youth: the Germans are now becoming more sophisticated, but on the whole they like lots of detail and decoration. For herself, the Princess says that she prefers to design for small women, and this season, especially, her designs are perfect ffatterv foi small figures. She has very ■ gladly reverted to a stressing of' the waistline, emphasising it with i almost bustle-like fullness at the back of her young suits. Her dresses are ultra-feminine j with fitted waists, deep necklines and the soft cascades of material in the skirt. “I am," Princess Caracciolo told “tired of tall

elegance. I want women to look feminine and pretty for a change. I think that the waistline will stay now for a while; since it gives a far better scope for variation, you can develop many more effects.” I asked the Princess if she had an ideal type of woman and she said “yes”—the kind of woman she thinks of as an ideal so far as designing goes, is about 28. very beautiful, who likes to dress very simply. Princess Caracciolo’s own interests are, she says, the theatre and conversation. She adores social life and entertains a great deal in her villa, where she lives with her mother. Talking to her is like sitting next to a small dynamo. She talks fast and amusingly, her bracelets jingling with every movement of her freckled hands.

“I have to see everything through myself,” she says, and this she does, with a success which sends her designs in increasing quantity to Britain and to both North and South America. Cambrian Society.— There was a good attendance of members at the annual meeting of the Cambrian Society of Canterbury held recently, when the annual report and balance sheet revealed a successful year. The following officers were elected: president. Mr J. G. Parry; vice-presidents. Mesdames R. H. Williams. E. Rogers. G. R. Thomson, W. Wood and Messrs J. E. Jones and E. Rogers; committee, Mesdames R. Chapman, H. Weedins and Miss M. Jones and Messrs O. Wynn Evans, E. Hughes and W. Wood; treasurer, Mr E. R. Caygill; secretary, Mr C. S. Williams. Papanui-Merivale Plunket.— Mrs M. Wilson presided at the annual meeting of the PapanuiMerivale Plunket Mothers’ Club. Mrs F. Walton read the report of the year’s activities. Officers elected were: president. Mrs F. Walton: vice-president. Mrs G. Lee: secretary. Mrs A. Bromley; treasurer, Mrs C. Heamsley; committee, Mesdames A. Gibbons, O. J. Neumagen. J. Biggs, B. Ingley. B. Grimwood. L. Earnshaw. N. Bowman. Penrose. H. Lattimore. C. Couldwell, E. Moore and S. j Ballinger.