Fornarina

Fornarina, an unforeseeable anticipator of the evolution of stylistic codes, pushes itself with originality and audacity beyond rules.The company was born in 1947 in Civitanova Marche, following Gianfranco Fornari’s passion for female shoes. Thanks to strong communication strategies and to the careful diversification of the product, the company has grown a lot over the years.

Between tradition and innovation, Fornarina comes up with cork wedges, followed by ballerina shoes and consolidates its position in the international market with clogs and the Up!, the best seller sneaker which completely changed the concept of sport female shoes of whom Fornarina Sport Inspired is the latest interpretation. At the beginning of the 90’s Lino Fornari takes up the leadership of the group and gives life to an internal creative team.Style, marketing and communication, which are by now managed internally, contribute to the quick success of the product.The year 1998 sees the debut of Fornarina Apparel. Thanks to its innovative approach the company finds an original space in the fashion world, revealing from the onset a great opening towards the contamination of worlds and languages and affirming at the same time a strong identity.Each new Fornarina collection confirms the soul of the brand: Eclectic and stubbornly glamour. A game of contrasts. where pure geometries and sinuous lines mix together with memories of great stars and comics, vintage allure and romantic futurism. Fornarina denim garments are a perfect example of this life style. Core product from the onset, it is the garment icon of the contemporaneity which has always marked the brand. The continuous search and experience earned in the sector have contributed in giving to denims a strongly characterised wearability.In the last 2 decades, the brand has strengthened its international presence with the opening of new flagship stores all over the world.The attention to technologic evolution and to materials has translated the oneiric world into reality and the resulting image is sophisticated and classy: vinyl floors, chromium plated elements, surfaces hand sculpted by the architect himself, original display solutions.The first store to open has been the Las Vegas store in Mandalay Place which received the prestigious award “Store of the Year 2004” by DDI and has now become part of the permanent collection exhibited at the Chicago Athenaeum International Museum of Architecture and Design.The subsequent stores to open have been the two in Rome (Via del Corso and Cola di Rienzo), Rio de Janeiro and the Carnaby Street flagship store in London. The desire to experiment has now found its space in the Fornarina lab, a research area open to emerging artists where fashion meets art in a continuous creative dialogue.The alliance starts with the cooperation with the French artist Miss Van, proposing a line of apparel and shoes animated by her sensual and provocative dolls and continues with the Icelandic illustrator Katrin Petursdottir, who develops graphic patterns on the product and on Ten Art Pack, sneakers and handbags customised by the lively and futurist graphics of the artist.Also the “Walt Disney” apparel mini line is in perfect harmony with the mood of the brand.Another important challenge and success of the Fornarina Art Lab was the FORNARINA URBAN BEAUTY SHOW.The URBAN BEAUTY SHOW, a multisensorial event with a strong visual impact, is the perfect representation of the Fornarina imaginary world made of femininity, experimentation and irony. Fashion, art and music meet in a novel and original mix of artistic languages creating a path of installations, in which spectators, led by sounds and lights, are involved and captivated.Fornarina lives and produces innovations. Crossing over half a century of history it interprets the soul of times, always in line with its unique and unmistakable style.