After more than 20 years of hard work, in 1948 she realised her dream to set up her own tailoring workshop, near to the central train station. My grandfather Alfredo did the selling and Emilia the sewing. Nonetheless, it was a time of hardship, with Naples still recovering from World War II.
In the sixties my father joined the family business and relocated the workshop from Naples to San Giorgio a Cremano, a bustling village full of family-run shirtmakers and tiemakers.
I grew up surrounded by sewing machines and fabrics; my father’s workshop was shrouded in a magical atmosphere and soon I knew that I wanted to follow in my grandmother’s footsteps.
After several years studying textile technology and then pattern making for men’s shirts at Secoli Institute of Milan, I began to cut the first bespoke shirts for customers in Naples – then in Milan and now also in London.
My own dream came true.