THE COMPANY
The twenties. In these years Pasquale Celli founded his company and created the Avon brand, in 1922 to be exact. Pasquale Celli was an ingenious, irresistibly funny man. He loved social events and he perfectly embodied the high society atmosphere which characterised those years.
BATHING SUITS
On a summer’s day at the beach, Pasquale Celli had an intuition: men and women who until then had been caged in very chaste bathing suits featuring long sleeves and ankle-length trousers were to be freed. He envisaged revolutionising the bathing suit: he cut the trousers and the sleeves, creating a new model, which was quite scandalous at the time.
STOCKINGS
After World War II, Pasquale Celli had his most important intuition: to use stocking looms to create ultra-fine knits. At the time, in addition to swimsuits and sweaters, Avon Celli also produced stockings. This intuition gave way to ultralight knitwear, a great innovation in global knitwear. In order to achieve this kind of lightness, Avon Celli invented a yarn made of cashmere and silk, which was woven on 36 gauge looms, extraordinary machines that are still unprecedented today.
KNITWEAR
In the fifties, Avon Celli broke into the US market, thanks to Giuseppe Battaglia. After having been a pioneer of modern product placement by giving Avon sweaters to all the celebrities that stayed at Villa d’Este, Battaglia decided to present the brand in America in a very unusual way: he toured the most important cities by camper, inviting buyers and clients to taste a plate of spaghetti cooked by himself, thereby slyly combining two of the most renowned Italian excellencies: fashion and pasta.
CELEBRITIES
In a short lapse of time, the Avon Celli collections became an elitist status symbol for the most important names of the cinema and entertainment worlds in Hollywood. During the years, Avon Celli won over famous names such as Frank Sinatra, Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, King Hassan II from Morocco, Sophia Loren and Gianni Agnelli. Tradition has it that Picasso also loved to paint while wearing his striped, knitted Avon Celli polo shirts.
YVES SAINT LAURENT
One of the brightest stars in the fashion world was without a doubt Christian Dior. Pasquale Celli signed his first licensing agreement with him in 1955. Thanks to the company’s extraordinary talent, Avoncelli produced dresses and knitwear for him for two years, and subsequently also for his heirs, Gaston Berthelot and Yves Saint Laurent.
AVON CELLI TODAY
AVON CELLI today has a strong focus on simplicity with a drive to create timeless pieces taking some of the originality from where the brand was 100 years ago. With a goal on portraying a unique contemporary luxury feel.