In 1954 with energy and desire to attain Ada Masotti opened in Bologna a little corsetry laboratory with a name full of promises, La Perla. Indeed, the case lined with red velvet with which the first creations were transported did in fact resemble a jeweler’s case. Ada Masotti was trained in the env

In 1954 with energy and desire to attain Ada Masotti opened in Bologna a little corsetry laboratory with a name full of promises, La Perla. Indeed, the case lined with red velvet with which the first creations were transported did in fact resemble a jeweler’s case. Ada Masotti was trained in the env

Fibre2Fashion: "La Perla" is a story that began with a little corsetry laboratory and grew up to become an ultimate symbol of Tradition craftsmanship and innovation. How has fashion and designing contributed to this growth?

Giovanni Bianchi:

La perla started like an artisan’s expression of Italian craftsmanship. The region around bologna, where La Perla started, was very important in the growth of our brand. In that territory there were women with the capacity to create handcrafted masterpieces, these pieces were made out of silk and lace infused together, and most of them had great fits as well. Soon La perla introduced an expression of design and fashion into this art of corsetry, when no other brand in the world had that intuition. We took it as a challenge and dared to blend fashion and luxury with domestic and regional art & crafts (we are talking about the age of 70 and early 80) and certainly this has influenced our growth and helped us in making what we are today.

F2F: What are the key elements of design that make La Perla collections exclusive and unique?

GB:

The key elements of design, that are also a part of our core values during most of our design process since ages are as follows:

1. The seduction of the materials (high quality, luxurious)
2. The capacity to explore new materials that haven’t been used so far in corsettery
3. The seduction of shape in forms of different styles of bra’s (for example our sculpture bra’s in the 80)
4. The seduction of the see through and transparency.
5. The seduction of Italian "eleganza".

F2F: How would you like to Define a "La Perla" women?

GB:

Like the International image of the brand itself, in our perspective La Perla women can be defined as follows:

   1. Elegant
   2. Sophisticated
   3. Charismatic
   4. Seductive
   5. Feminine
   6. Contemporary

 

F2F: What do you believe are the greatest challenges of the Lingerie business In terms of designing?

GB:

In the last two decades a fusion of lingerie and fashion is happening and there is even a play between the two. Lingerie has started to be a substitute for dresses; robe instead of coat, slips and camisoles instead of shirts and dresses. We have started a new collection called “Collection Creature” in collaboration with Jean Paul Gautier. This collection is illustrative of the great possibility of lingerie to become something more than a complementary accessory. The lingerie has a lot of potential on all the catwalks of New York, Paris and Milan. In each season, we will witness a mix between lingerie and fashion.

F2F: What new styles and trends can the La Perla fans expect to see in seasons to come?

GB:

The upcoming collections can be seen to have strong influences of Hollywood stars from the 30s and 40s era. At La perla research and groundwork is given lot of emphasis, For instance our design team watched many movies from that era and took lot of inspirations. The collections hence forth would be carrying lot of Black as a Color of Mystery…..Seduction ......Night......and Temptations followed by the use of delicate materials like laces, silk satin and silk chiffon......for that see through seduction.