……………………….I used to buy this beautiful silky soft cotton from an Italian company named “Braghenti”. They specialized in cotton and linen. They also had a home division that made the most beautiful cotton and Linen sheets. I still have Linen sheets and pillow cases from them that are wonderful in the summer. The company was owned by a very young man named Emanuele Castellini. It was a family owned business as so many of the Italian fabric companies were and are still today. This company was four generations old, and very well established. When I first started doing business with the company Emanuele’s older brother Waltero ran the business. He was a tall handsome man and very charismatic…….On one of our trips to Italy we found out Waltero was thrown from a horse and was killed. He was an Olympic jumper. It was such a tragedy. We all supported the very young Emanuele, who took over the business. He had to be very responsible very quickly, but he had a very good seasoned team behind him. As the years passed he proved to be a wonderful and creative member of the family who not only took the reigns, but grew the company too. I worked with him directly for years…The clothes above were the fishnet tee with cotton shorts, and an unlined cotton “Boyfriend” blazer with a cotton mini skirt. The blazer had a beautiful crest emb. on the pocket. I also had clear resin buttons made with tiny gold ball centers. One of the great advantages of working for a “designer” company was I could make anything I dreamed of including all of the accessories shown……..the hat……the tote……the belt and the jewelry…..You may recognize the model at the right….Her name is Famke Janssen….Famke modeled for me for a few years, doing both the shows and print. She left the modeling business to become an actress. I had doubted she would become a success, because she was so beautiful and TALL. These attributed would put her in a VERY limited category….plus no one really took models turned actresses seriously [there have been some wonderful exceptions], and most leading men are SHORT. However, she got the role as a “Bond Girl”, and her career took off. Unfortunately, today she is almost unrecognizable due to bad plastic surgery and FILLERS. I really don’t know why so many women go down that same path only to end up with the same horrific results….blown up cheeks to the point of ridiculous, and distorted features. I know so many who do…….”mirror, mirror on the wall”……..Famke ended up being a cautionary tale. I googled her to see what she was up to, and was really shocked at what I saw…..
It’s sad that women feel the need to desperately hold on to their youth. Most of them are aging beautifully & don’t even realize it.It’s a shame how many maime themselves .A lot of them don’t even admit to having done it.
Louis, your designs are beautiful!! Thank you for sharing.
Louis, is the Castellini family still in business today?
Yes, it is and Emanuele is still running the business. He has merged the company and it is now called C&C Milano I think. You can google Braghenti and read all about the company from the beginning in 1850 to now. Emanuele is in a picture with two men sitting in a window…He is on the right. He doesn’t look like he has changed at all!
Beautiful story surrounding the photos, but no idea why women do this to themselves!!
She was on Nip/Tuck for a few seasons. That may be where she got the idea for all the face work.
It’s really the injected fillers that are so distorting.
I recognize her from “X-Men”.
Yes, she got some good parts after Bond, and that was a repeat role.