Harper’s Bazaar: Let’s first talk about your father, the legendary Emilio Pucci. How did he get into the fashion business?
We have to go back to the post-war period. My father was in Switzerland, recuperating from war injuries, and to make a living he was teaching the two things he knew how to do: teach Italian and give skiing lessons [he had been in the Italian Olympic team since 1934 and participated in the 1936 winter Olympic Games]. He had designed a ski suit for himself inspired by the army uniform he used to wear and added some elastic under the foot to allow the body to move while skiing. One day he met on the slopes of Zermatt a young American lady who was lost US. I do not know how she managed to call my father [in 1947] and over the phone she asked him to design a ski collection that would be produced by an American firm in Portland and sold at Lord and Taylor.
