LEO NARDUCCI

Leo was born into the fashion industry.  His parents owned a contract factory in Brockton MA., so Leo grew up in the business,  He was fortunate to know what his calling was at a very early age.

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Leo moved to New York City to find his future in fashion.  He achieved early success and after four years in the business received a Coty Award as one of America's most promising young designers.

At the time, stores didn't have a place to house his designs which were young in spirit and affordably priced, so a new department in stores was born........Young Designer Shop, which of course was the ground breaker for young designer recognition, and is very relevant today.

Over the years, Leo's name has appeared on dresses, sportswear, swimwear, loungewear and accessories, and even when he decided to "take a breather" as he says, he still did private label for stores and catalogs to keep busy which further sharpened his design sensibilities.
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This past year he has started the process of re-branding LEO NARDUCCI.
A line of Fashion jewelry will be introduced for Spring '10 as well as a Signature silk scarf collection. 

On the boards is a concept for the LEO NARDUCCI COLLECTION, which will be a mid-priced collection of Occasion dresses and dressy sportswear.
 
Leo's design philosophy remains intact...............young, spirited, timeless designs at affordable prices.

His mantra is “Fashion need not be expensive.  Quality materials combined with simple design with just the right amount of dramatic touches is what I'm all about."
 

Anthony Ferrara


Anthony Ferrara has been working with metal mesh for 30 years.  After graduating from the Boston School of Fashion Design, he traveled to Italy to study the art of custom tailoring.  Upon his return to Massachusetts. He opened a small couture shop for women.  That is where he began experimenting with metal mesh as trim on couture fashions.

His first widespread success with mesh apparel was sparked by an invitation to participate in a Boston fashion show.  He created a dramatic mesh swimsuit and from there started making clothes out of the metal mesh.

The excitement the swimsuit generated in Boston led to a special association with Whiting & Davis.  At that time, they were the world’s leading producer of metal mesh.  He was asked to be the exclusive designer of their ready-to-wear line, which was marketed worldwide.  Not only was he the designer for them for 17 years, he also had (and still has) his own company that sells fashion forward accessories that include jewelry, handbags and belts out of the metal mesh.

Ferrara designs have been worn by such superstars like Paulina, Cher and Elizabeth Taylor.  His designs have been featured on the pages of the world’s most prestigious fashion magazines: Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia and many more.  Anthony has worked with Gianni Versace, Missoni, Emmanuelle Kahn, Courreges and Paco Rabanne among others.

Ferrara was commissioned to create an exclusive fashion for the famous Absolut Vodka ad campaign, the same campaign which previously featured the art of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring plus the fashions of Marc Jacobs and David Cameron.  The ad “Absolut Ferrara” showcased a shimmering silver mesh mini dress and turban.  Ferrara was the only designer asked to create more than one garment for Absolut.  He created a $500,000 18 karat solid gold dress, advertised as “Absolut Fashion.”

As the foremost designer working in metal mesh today, Anthony Ferrara creates wearable art.  He loves working with mesh because nothing else behaves like it on the body.  He understands how mesh is made and knows what it can do
With his talent and imagination, he continues to explore new finishes, patterns and textures for the FERRARA clothing and jewelry lines.
 

Gerda and Nicolai Monies are an internationally-known design team from Denmark who create spectacular lines of jewelry.  Gerda and Nicolai met in design school in West Germany, and paired up personally and as designers- each working off and complimenting the other's strengths and perspectives.  Both are inspired by natural elements and prefer to allow the essence of the material to speak for itself and determine what will flow from it. Gerda, a goldsmith and jewelry designer, furthered her education in England and the United States after design school.  She has the distinction of being the first woman to become a member of the 700-year old Goldsmith's Guild in Denmark.  In keeping with her philosophy that jewelry should be large to stand out, and be a bit provocative, Gerda states, "Big earrings, bracelets and necklaces add drama to a woman's personality.  All every woman needs is just one great piece of important jewelry." Nicolai, a silversmith and jewelry designer, draws large crowds of devoted followers and connoisseurs of statement pieces to his European shows.  He has traveled the world selecting raw gems, antique carvings and unusual materials such as antique jade carvings.  Nicolai's designs for MONIES bring his years of experience and aesthetic perspective to each collection. The jewelry is made from nature's own materials including wood; water buffalo horn, and nail; bone; amber; and other semi-precious gems-as well as-fine man-made materials such as resins.  All materials used are certified in accordance with the International Wildlife Laws of the Washington Convention.