MaxMara Founder dies

The founder of Italian fashion house MaxMara, Achille Maramotti, died last Wednesday at the age of 78. Maramotti founded the label in 1951 with one suit and one coat, and built a company with over 20 labels and annual sales of $1 billion.

Maramotti was born in January 1927 in Reggio Emilia in Italy. Besides running a fashion empire, he also assembled an impressive collection of contemporary art and functioned as director of no less than three banks, Credito Emiliano, Unicredito Italiano and Mediobank. According to last year's Forbes Rich List, Maramotti was one of the world's richest men with a fortune of GBP2.1 billion. Although he kept a low profile in the fashion world, he was very knowledgeable about the fashion industry. Franca Sozzani, editor of Italian Vogue told The New York Times: "(...) he had an incredible sense about investing in fashion."