Italian fashion designer Nino Cerruti has passed away at the age of 91 at the Vercelli hospital in the northwest region of Piedmont.

Cerruti, who was born in the town of Biella in 1930, played a key role in the international fashion industry for the elegance of his creations. He left the university of philosophy at 20 years old, after the death of his father, to work in the family business, the textile mill Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti founded by his grandfather in Biella in 1881. Meanwhile, he can realize the dream of becoming a journalist.

Cerruti showed his first men’s collection, Hitman, in 1957. The collection was considered revolutionary in men’s wear at that time Cerruti became the first to create the deconstructed jacket for men.
He discovered Giorgio Armani’s talent in the 1960s. Armani worked with Cerruti until 1970, before founding his own company in 1975.

“It is with great sadness that I learn of Nino Cerruti’s death,” said Armani. “Although over the years we had seen less of each other, I have always considered him one of the people who have had a real and positive influence on my life. From him, I learned not only the taste for a sartorial softness but also the importance of an all-around vision, as a designer and an entrepreneur. Mr. Nino was a keen observer, he had a real curiosity and the ability to dare. His gentle way of being authoritative and also authoritarian will be missed.”

Cerruti opened his first boutique in Paris in 1967.

In the ‘80s, he designed clothes for films including Pretty Woman and Basic Instinct. Leading figures in Hollywood cinema wore his creations, such as Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford.

In the mid-1990s he was the official designer of the Scuderia Ferrari.

Thanks to his works Cerruti obtained important awards, two Cutty Sark menswear awards, the Munich fashion week award in 1981, and the Italian Pitti Uomo award in 1986.

In 2000 he was named Chevalier du travail.

“I’m leaving 'clopin-clopant', but in my head, I’m always 20 years old”, Cerruti said during an interview for Icon Magazine in 2021.