An island with lush vegetation that attracts jet setters and inspires fashion designers!
If the craze for Capri seems to have known its golden age in the 1950s, the island is already known to crowned heads from the end of the 19th century. It was the doctor and philanthropist Axel Munthe who, settling there in 1887, attracted the Queen of Sweden with him, and of course many others. “My house must be open to the sun, to the wind and to the voices of the sea, like a Greek temple, and to light, light, light everywhere!” The villa San Michele which survives him transposes his desire; since becoming the icon of Capri – a haven of peace and communion with nature. It is this vision of an idyllic island that later attracts Oscar Wilde, Jean Cocteau, André Gide or even Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly.
But the building that made Capri a popular icon was the Casa Malaparte. Built for the Italian writer Malaparte, it is a kind of artist magnet. Jean-Luc Godard first who planted the scene of his iconic film ‘Le Mépris’, with Brigitte Bardot in 1963. Then, Karl Lagerfeld. In the 1990s, he traveled to Capri and returned with a photo album capturing this timeless house. Empty of all influences, is was Capri alone who inspires jet setters. And not the reverse.
Capri pants for example. A creation born in the 1940s, from the hands of the German designer Sonja De Lennart. Passing through Capri, the summer is so hot that she came to drastically reducing the length of her pants. A few decades later, it was Jackie O. who introduced the fashion for Capri pants to the world, at the same time asserting the uniform of these resorts – white pants, black t-shirt, and maxi glasses. But it is another couturier who made Capri his land of choice.
Emilio Pucci never hid it – he drew from its crystal-clear waters, divine rocks and the colors of its landscape the lines and patterns of his iconic style. It was there that in 1957 he founded his first Haute Couture salon. In Capri too, there is the Grand Hotel Quisisana – a must-see place on the island where poets, aristocrats and rockstars have taken up residence since 1845. Since there is little to do in Capri, you let your imagination run wild. Like Tod’s, which each season gives its legendary Gommino the hues of a summer in Capri. A summer full of prose and beauty, which you can savor in good company at the Conca Del Sogno, the island’s iconic restaurant set in an out of this world setting!