Founded in 1973
A company which previously employed Gianni Versace and Guy Paulin as in-house designers, Byblos was successfully directed from 1981 by Keith Varty and Alan Cleaver. Known as the ‘Byblos boys’, Varty and Cleaver are both English designers who totally understand the Italian sensibility. ‘A company like Byblos simply doesn’t exist in England,’ they told Vogue in 1990. ‘We don’t have a budget – nobody questions how much we spend on fabrics. Coming to Italy opened our eyes to the importance of quality. The British have a whole different sense of priorities. In Italy, designers are treated like pop stars.’ No longer at the helm, Byblos made Richard Tyler design director in 1996, followed by John Bartlett.
