`When I'm working on a collection I'm not thinking,' said Romeo Gigli of his divine inspiration in 1989, `it's a spontaneous, chemical thing.'
Both Gigli's father and grandfather were antiquarian book dealers and he spent his childhood surrounded by his father's collection of 20,000 books from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Gigli originally trained as an architect and spent four years living on the Balearic island of Ibiza before moving to Milan. In 1972 the owner of a store in Bologna asked Gigli to design. He moved to New York in 1978 and designed a collection for Piero Dimitri.
With sloping shoulders, beautiful colours, opulent fabrics and flat pumps, Gigli reintroduced the Renaissance woman just at the point when big shoulders were beginning to fall out of favour.
Gigli set up his own label in 1983, but it was not until his fourth season, in March 1986 - following a show of elongated knitwear and languid lines - that he was heralded `a quiet new talent' by The New York Times. In March 1989 Gigli decided to show in Paris for the first time. Backed by Zamasport, his autumn/winter Byzantine collection was rapturously received by the international buyers. He launched the perfume, Romeo, later that year and rode the crest of rave reviews. A diffusion line and G Gigli was on the horizon, but behind the scenes Gigli was facing a business fracas involving two former business partners. This dispute did not reach a settlement until May 1991, when Gigli regained control.
