Italian Fashion History

Italian fashion history dates all the way back to ancient Rome. The Roman Empire spread their culture around the world, including fashion. Some of the centers of Italian fashion were Rome, Milan and Venice. When the Roman Empire fell, the clothing of people in Europe became more localized and patterned after local kings and queens. The renaissance period saw the rebirth of Italian fashion having a major impact on the European fashion scene. Italy at that period was mostly broken up into city states, but the southern region became a major focus of the renaissance because of Italy’s link to ancient Rome along with the strong influence of the Catholic Church. By the late 1500s, Italy’s influence began to wane when Henry VII set up his own Church of England and the great schism within the Papacy which placed equal authority in Avignon, France. England became a rising power on the world stage thanks to Queen Elizabeth I along with the rise of the House of Bourbon in France. By the 1600s, monarchs of both England and France were the trendsetters who dictated fashion and dress of both men and women at court while Italy fell behind. These court rules sifted through both English and French society and eventually the rest of Europe. Italy did not have any influence on the fashion scene until the late twentieth century with such fashion designers as Prada and Dolce and Gabbana making huge impacts on world fashion today.