Sarmi

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Sarmi

Count Ferdinando Sarmi (born 1916) was the head of the Sarmi fashion design house in New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
.

inando Sarmi was born into a wealthy Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
family. He expressed interest in fashion as a youth but was discouraged from pursuing a design career by his father. Sarmi stated in a 1965 interview with Time, "in Italy, when the oldest son tells his father he wants to be a dress designer, it's like a woman saying she intends to be a prostitute".

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Encyclopedia

Count Ferdinando Sarmi (born 1916) was the head of the Sarmi fashion design house in New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
.

Early years

Ferdinando Sarmi was born into a wealthy Italian

Italy

University of Siena

The University of Siena in Siena, Tuscany is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called Studium Senese, the University of Siena was founded in 1240....
, where he received a doctor of law degree. Despite his professional training, Sarmi still desired a career in fashion. He became a costume designer and created costumes for two Italian film

Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
s: Musica Proibita (released as Forbidden Music in the US

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
) in 1942 and Cronaca di un Amore
Cronaca di un amore

Cronaca di un amore is a 1950 Italian black-and-white drama film and the first full length feature film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni....
(released as Story of a Love Affair in the US) in 1950. Sarmi was given a leading role in Cronaca di un Amore, but it was his first and only on-screen performance. He left Italy in 1951 to work in New York fashion.

New York

From 1951 to 1959, Sarmi was head designer for Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden

Florence Nightingale Graham - who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden - was a Canada businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States....
. It was during this time that he developed a reputation as a top designer, wooing an influential clientele that included celebrities, New York socialites, and foreign dignitaries. Pat Nixon

Pat Nixon

Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974....
wore a Sarmi for Arden gown to her husband's second Inaugural Ball in 1957. He was best known for his opulent evening looks, and for his use of extravagant fabrics such as swansdown. Sarmi left Arden and opened his own Seventh Avenue

Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)

Seventh Avenue/Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It carries traffic downtown south of Central Park but both ways north of it....
boutique in 1959. In 1960, he was awarded the prestigious Coty Award

Coty Award

The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards is the highest praise that can be awarded in clothing and is often referred to as the "Oscars" of the clothing world....
for fashion design. His collection included haute couture

Haute couture

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques....
and ready-to-wear

Ready-to-wear

File:ClothingReadyWear.jpgReady-to-wear or pr?t-?-porter is the term for factory made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes....
apparel that set the pace for 1960s fashion in New York. His designs commonly featured intricate embroideries, vivid colors, and racy hemlines.

During the late 1960s, the house fell upon financial difficulties. In 1972, his business was renamed Ferdinando Sarmi, but it closed shortly thereafter.