Couturier Tag

Couturier Renato Balestra MILAN – Designer Renato Balestra, a doyen of Italian couture, died in Rome on Saturday, aged 98. A funeral service shall be held within the Italian capital on Tuesday. Balestra opened his first atelier in 1959 in Rome, where the corporate remains to be based, after an apprenticeship with Jole Veneziani and dealing for the likes of Emilio Schubert, Maria Antonelli and Sorelle Fontana. Born right into a family of architects and engineers, he stood out for his artistic spirit and was defined because the “painter of fashion.” Known for his signature painterly embroidery and mix of various fabrics and transparencies, his name was related to a particular color — Balestra blue. His strong passion for cinema led him to design costumes for...