Giuseppina Tizzoni, a Milanese born and bred was born in 1889. Her career as a seamstress started young, as she perfected her talents with years of apprentiships in well known ateliers in Milan. Tizzoni’s most formative years were spent in Via della Spiga at Fumac. Here she established herself as a talented seamstress and everything she touched was guaranteed of class and the highest workmanship.

In the early 1920, spurred by the security of her reputation Tizzoni opened her very own atelier. Her eveningwear, furs and fur trimmed capes were amongst the most sought after from the Milanese stylish ladies.

Tizzoni’s creativity and innovation was surprisingly aided by one of the darkest periods in Italian history. With the rise and consolidation of the Fascist regime, tight guidelines were imposed onto all areas of manufacture, including fashion. It was stipulated that at least half of what was produced needed to be made with Italian fabrics and Italian patters. The latter in particular spurred talented and creative designers, like Tizzoni to limit their purchases from the Parisian fashion houses and create their own independent styles.

After the Second Wold War, Giuseppina Tizzoni included her daughter in her atelier and they kept working together until the mother’s death in 1979. The Tizzoni label perished along with Carla, Giuseppina’s daughter, in 1986.

Designers such a Giuseppina Tizzoni, with a humble background but a sense of style, work ethics and immense creativity were able to withstand the pressure of the Fascist regime, and emerged from the other side of the tunnel of totalitarism with that individual, independent and internationally recognized style which today sets the Milanese runways apart from the others.

Written by: Valentina Zannoni