News (2008/09/05)

Fashion designer Mila Schon dies

The top Milan designer who dressed Jackie Kennedy and the Rockefellers died Thursday night at the age of 89. Schon was known for her modern but simple clothes with classical lines.

"We have lost one the pillars of Italian fashion", Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion, said. Milan city council observed a minute's silence on Friday for the "ambassador for Milanese elegance".

Schon was born Maria Carmen Nutrizio in Dalmatia, then Italian (now Croatian). She opened her first boutique in Milan's fashion street Via Montenapoleone in 1965.

Besides Jackie Kennedy and the Rockefellers she also clothed the Agnellis (the Fiat-dynasty), singers like Mina and Milva and the Alitalia hostesses.

The Italian part of the Mila Schon group was taken over by the Mariella Burani group in 1999, althought Schon still personally supervised the designs.

(Source: ANSA)