Women's Wear Daily

Magazine
Women's Wear Daily

Women’s Wear Daily logo

1910 - today

New York

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Founded in New York in 1910, Women's Wear Daily, also known as WWD, is considered the most authoritative weekly publication in the fashion industry, so much so that it has earned the nickname "Fashion Bible".

Elisa Massai, the first Italian journalist for Women's Wear Daily, is one of the figures who introduced the Italian panorama to the American catalogues. She recounts the beginnings of Made in Italy: from 1950 onwards, the protagonists of her articles become the textile novelties presented at Italian fashion shows, the boutique collections of Italian designers and the textile proposals presented by manufacturers.
It was Elisa Massai herself who introduced the baptism of Italian fashion to the American world, being among the five journalists invited by Giovanni Battista Giorgini to the First Italian Fashion Show in Florence and becoming a witness to the growth of buyers from the United States.

The magazine became, therefore, the means by which Italian design and textiles became part of the American imagination as early as 1950, dealing in depth with what turned out to be the fundamental elements of the arrival of Italian design in America: the new textile proposals presented by Italian manufacturers are described in the article "Italy Showing Many Big Prints" thanks to the analysis of the central role they played by Elisa Massai. Subsequently, attention is focused on the arrival of fabrics composed of synthetic and man-made fibers, highlighting the various areas of Italy as the largest textile production districts in Europe. Particular attention is given to Alta Roma in the article "Italian Couture Trends", thanks to which the new trends emerging from the fashion shows presented between Rome and Florence become protagonists. 
Women's Wear Daily gradually identifies the birth of the designers and fashion houses that would define Italian style such as Emilio Pucci, Walter Albini and Irene Galitzine, interviewing the designers and tracing the creation of their distinctive traits that led to their success in the United States.

Related Vectors

Elisa Massai

giornalista

Emilio Pucci

Fashion Designer

Walter Albini

Fashion Designer

Irene Galitzine

Fashion Designer

Sources

Elisa Massai (1955), Women's Wear Daily, "Italian Showing Many Big Prints".

Elisa Massai (1959), Women's Wear Daily, "Italian Couture Trends".

Author Cleopatra Abbondanza