Mario Valentino: A History of Fashion, Design and Art

Established in 1952 in Naples (where the headquarters are still located), Mario Valentino is a leading brand in the leather sector and a legendary manufacturer of shoes, accessories and clothing. Its history dates to the early 1900s, when Mario’s father, Vincenzo, a highly professional artisan, made his first shoes with the “Valentino” brand, praised by the Savoys, local aristocrats and famous international celebrities. In his small shop in the heart of Naples, his son Mario learned the secrets to create elegant, customized shoes. Right after the war he made a name for himself and opened his own workshop. After success in fashion shows in Rome and in the United States, in the early 1970s his business flourished; since then, on the crest of notoriety and expertise, he moved into prêt-à-porter, a field where artisan tanning skills meet the rules of haute couture and where leather takes on unexpected forms. From the late 1960s through the 1980s, top models like Verushka and Ashley Richardson contributed to the brand’s success and photographers like Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon, Mimmo Jodice, Helmut Newton and many others decreed the design philosophy of Mario Valentino as a true art form. This publication, which offers precious documents collected in his archives and a description of the most important moments in the history of fashion, recreates this intense and extraordinary adventure, with the goal of recognizing the debt of this “enlightened Neapolitan” to his land and outlining that “yet unwritten part” he played with skilful creativity in “Made in Italy” businesses.