October 30-November 5, 2003

mixpicks

Adrienne Vittadini

Ready-to-wear design maven Adrienne Vittadini is more than just a pretty face and wooshing Dynasty hairdo. She's a Moore College of Art and Design graduate -- class of 1966 -- whose Americanized professionalism gave her Old-World Italian sense of fashion design and flowing tailoring a pragmatic kick. During her junior year, while most students would be smoking pot, she won a fellowship to study with Louis Ferrault in Paris and Emilio Pucci in Florence. The result was a longstanding self-made (and self-named) company whose brand of Euro-American featured complex, sophisticated clothing with subtle, supple edges: Elegant work wear and sleek, sports-inspired weekend and resort wear mingled in her collections of the '70s, '80s and '90s. Along with sports, dress and evening divisions, Vittadini had more things going than the Vegas Gaming Commission: She's a true revolutionary of the fashion game who went into shoes, handbags, perfumes, luggage, wallpaper and more before Halston could take off his turtleneck. After selling her company in the early '90s, Vittadini and her husband formed a new company, AV Casa, building high-end homes worldwide as well as consulting on interior design and for fashion companies, like GAP International. Along with winning Moore's Visionary Woman Award just weeks ago, Vittadini kicks off the college's new Cutting Edge lecture series that will, in December, feature Kenneth Cole.

Adrienne Vittadini, Mon., Nov. 3, 11:30 a.m., free, Moore College of Art and Design, Stewart Auditorium, 20th Street and the Parkway, 215-965-4068.

—A.D. Amorosi

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