The beginning of the Pucci fashion house was an accidental and strange one.
Like most traditional families in Tuscany the Pucci's lived off their land and they were 'quite low profile' compared with the flamboyant rich aristocrats of Rome.
Emilio Pucci, also called the Marchese di Barsento, studied economics and politics, travelled and lived in America, studying agriculture for his family land. When Italy entered into fascist rule and World War II, Pucci went to war as a bomber pilot and came out a decorated hero. He was, however, jobless and with little money. Italy was a wasteland, so Emilio left. 'My father was in Switzerland recovering, because he was tortured during the war,' Laudomia says. 'But he had two assets: one was speaking Italian so he could give lessons; and the second was that he'd been on the Olympic skiing team, so he could be a coach.'
On the Swiss slopes, Emilio, wearing his elasticated ski uniform, struck up a friendship with a beautiful lost American girl. In a bizarre twist of fate, a photographer from Harpers Bazaar photographed the American with a Pucci-designed ski suit just days later and the image ended up on the table of Diana Vreeland (fashion editor of Harpers Bazaar and later, editor of Vogue). Vreeland wanted this designer: this contemporary stretch style hadn't been seen before in sportswear. She tracked him down, and asked him to design a winter ski collection for the US, and to be on the cover of the magazine. 'At first my father was insulted, because he was not a designer, but an officer of the Italian aviation and heir of an aristocratic family,' says Laudomia. 'Anyhow, they didn't take no for an answer and he did the collection in 1947 for the cover.'
The debut of her father's fashion career was interwoven with the American press and the perception that America was all about sportswear, leisure, free time, she adds.
Emilio Pucci opened his first store in the summer of 1950 in Capri. He thought the island's elite jet set needed an alternative to stiff Parisian couture. His colourful and cheeky leisurewear become an instant hit. 'When I go through my father's works, and the first creations in the '50s, it was the most creative part of Pucci, there's no doubt about it.' But he was also met with resistance. 'Some friends turned their back on him,' recalls Laudomia. 'In Capri, other aristocratic families would turn their heads away when they saw him because he was now a shop owner, and working. But my father, who had a tremendous sense of humour, would come with a bucket of water and start cleaning the floor in front of them and just make it worse. He had to laugh about it.'