When I first meet the affable Laudomia Pucci di Barsento at The Galleria’s Emilio Pucci store, she asks me to take a seat right next to her. She talks me through the brand’s history, casually flicking through pages of the recent Pucci coffee-table book, a collaboration between the Italian label and the German publisher Benedikt Taschen.
As the daughter of Emilio Pucci, Laudomia is the ideal storyteller for the brand. Her father, who founded his label in the late 1940s, took his first steps into fashion by chance, when a photograph of a ski suit he designed for his female friend landed in Harper’s Bazaar.
Laudomia was brought up in an architecturally stunning, aristocratic household: the Palazzo Pucci in Florence. Not only does the Pucci family continue to reside there, but the home still serves as a base for the business – both physically and inspirationally.
In fact, the design of the Abu Dhabi Emilio Pucci store (among 55 others around the world) is based on the interiors of the Palazzo. Laudomia frantically flips through the Pucci book to show me exactly where the inspiration came from. “We’ve incorporated the greys and golds from the walls and doors,” she says. “The burgundy Breccia dei Medici marble from the door frames is used here in the coffee table and that shade has been added into the carpet and sofa,” she adds, pointing to the very sofa we’re sitting on.
Joseph Dirand was the architect behind the label’s new store. He took inspiration not only from the Palazzo, but also from Emilio Pucci’s actual prints and incorporated the 1966 Torre print onto the crushed marble floor to create abstract, maze-like designs.
The Palazzo is so entwined into the Pucci dynasty that Peter Dundas, the brand’s artistic director who is known for revamping the label, has based his studio there. Asked how things have changed since bringing Dundas on board, Laudomia says: “Peter gave the collections a young feel – you can call it hip-hop or rock and roll.”
It’s instantly clear that Laudomia is the kind of woman who embraces change. Before working at Pucci, she was pursuing a career in politics. But when her father requested that she help him run the family business, she joined the fashion team and a few years later became chief executive. Did she not have any siblings who could have helped instead? “Not anymore,” she says abruptly – her smile vanishing, if only for a moment. “But let’s not talk about that.”
In 2000, Laudomia’s life faced another big transformation: 67 per cent of the Emilio Pucci label was purchased by the French conglomerate LVMH. Her new title became deputy chairman and image director. “Everything has changed from when I first began,” she says.
“The digital revolution has transformed the way we create and communicate. New markets have opened up, from Russia to China to the Middle East.”
One thing that remains consistent throughout Pucci’s history is the brand’s iconic prints. The kaleidoscopic graphic visuals, which were made famous by Lauren Bacall and Elizabeth Taylor, remain an important part of Pucci’s DNA.
“Peter has been very creative in mixing new ways of interpreting the classic Pucci prints, mostly with lace and in a very innovative way,” says Laudomia, referring to Dundas’s blending of Pucci’s archived psychedelic prints into unusual fabrics. However, instead of the brand’s traditional combination of print and colour, Dundas weaves the designs with texture: sequins, beading, chiffon and leather.
For Laudomia though, Pucci isn’t just about clothes. The history of the label carries is visible in the collections and the emotional connection she has with the company is ever present. “It has actually always been that way, but this doesn’t mean it is difficult,” she says. “It just means you have more passion for your job.”
Laudomia’s dream is that Pucci stays within the family and she hopes that her daughter takes over the reins one day – only if she wants to, of course.
neldasher@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
How Filipinos in the UAE invest
A recent survey of 10,000 Filipino expatriates in the UAE found that 82 per cent have plans to invest, primarily in property. This is significantly higher than the 2014 poll showing only two out of 10 Filipinos planned to invest.
Fifty-five percent said they plan to invest in property, according to the poll conducted by the New Perspective Media Group, organiser of the Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition. Acquiring a franchised business or starting up a small business was preferred by 25 per cent and 15 per cent said they will invest in mutual funds. The rest said they are keen to invest in insurance (3 per cent) and gold (2 per cent).
Of the 5,500 respondents who preferred property as their primary investment, 54 per cent said they plan to make the purchase within the next year. Manila was the top location, preferred by 53 per cent.
Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
