Nino Cerruti, Italian fashion figure and inventor of “casual chic”, died at 91

Italian fashion has just lost a big name.

The famous Italian designer Nino Cerruti, founder of the great fashion house Cerruti, has died at the age of 91, according to Italian media.

His death took place in a hospital in Vercelli, in Piedmont (north-west) where he was for a hip operation, according to the Corriere della Sera website.

"It's a giant among Italian entrepreneurs who is leaving," reacted Italian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Gilberto Pichetto.

Nino Cerruti introduced “casual chic” to high-end menswear by inventing the first deconstructed jacket in the 1970s.

He was then a master of relaxed refinement, but believed that the term "elegance" had "a terrible taste of the old", preferring the concept of "style".

"To have style is to mix culture and art", according to Nino Cerruti.

In Cerruti's Parisian design studio, George Yang, then director of design, adjusts a hem on Paul-Alexandre, model, in 2017, during a visit by the Parisian to the haute couture house.

(LP / Hélène Brunet-Rivaillon)

Born September 25, 1930 in Biella, he was forced to abandon his philosophy studies at the age of 20, after the death of his father Silvio, to take over the family textile factory, which he directed until his death, thus burying his dream of becoming a journalist.

Read alsoPrivate visit to Maison Cerruti

In the 1960s, he met a certain Giorgio Armani, four years his junior, and hired him as a designer for men.

The duo, which had a profound impact on the fashion world, separated a decade later, after Armani decided to found his own house in 1975.

Among his many activities, Nino Cerruti, named Chevalier du travail, was also the official designer of the Ferrari Formula 1 team.