Alessandra Vicedomini had us at “hello.” The designer and former model – who inherited the sleek mantle of the House of Vicedomini from her father, Giuseppe – has an almond-eyed beauty that immediately recalls Sophia Loren. She has a Loren-style warmth as well, engaging with clients here at Mary Jane Denzer during a recent trunk show as if they were longtime friends rather than customers. For Alessandra, couture is about relationships.
“The way (MJD owners Anastasia Cucinella and Debra O’Shea) treat the clients is the way my dad did and I do in my atelier in Geneva,” she said. “It’s a shopping experience. It’s not about making a sale.” Sadly, she added, that personalization is becoming rare in retail.
Alessandra’s approach to designing for the Vicedomini brand, which her father founded in their native Milan in 1962, is altogether different from what he offered. Instead of tweeds, she said, she works with knitwear.
“Women today are looking for ease in what they wear. They’re looking for fabric with more stretch, something casual.”
And yet, she added, there is a common thread in the House of Vicedomini, then and now – “timeless elegance.”
Many designers are turning to more forgiving fabrics to accommodate today’s peripatetic lifestyle and emphasize the trend in curvaceous figures. What makes Alessandra’s work stand out is its creation of the illusion of nudity. (Small wonder as some of her bikinis have been featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.)
A bit of nylon here at the knee, a bit of mesh there on the neckline and voilà – something that’s a touch naughty but oh-so-nice on such celebrities as Czech model and philanthropist Petra Němcová. Cool shoulders, side peplum, leafy appliqué and diamond-shaped pockets add to the flirty silhouette of the spring-summer collection.
Knitwear can sport another, wintry face in the House of Vicedomini, which can be seen in its classic double-ply cashmere gilet with a special trim of handcuff and ribbed cashmere that we swear looks like chinchilla.
Knits are what inspired Alessandra to step off the runway and magazine covers and into the atelier. A gifted student and linguist, she studied law at the University of Milan and initially intended to have a career in criminal law. But her beauty and couture pedigree would not be denied and at 14 she began modeling for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gautlier, Valentino and Versace. Marriage would take her to London where she used to run into the former Kate Middleton – now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – at Starbuck’s. (Alessandra said the simply elegant Kate remains the one woman she would like to dress.) And then it was on to Geneva, which is a little too staid for Alessandra’s taste.
The mother of two golf-loving sons said she needs a place to indulge her love of water and horses on these shores. Bucolic Bedford or Greenwich perhaps?
How lucky we would be to have Alessandra spreading her charm and talent among us.