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Nardiello for Rona Information

Discussion in 'PUBLIC Vintage Fashion - Ask Questions Get Answers' started by Kate L, Feb 27, 2019.

  1. Kate L

    Kate L Registered Guest

    Hi,

    I just acquired a fab dress and jacket with the label Nardiello for Rona. I've tried Google searching and have found very little about the designer, George Nardiello, or the shop/label Rona. Does anyone have some historical information about either?

    Thanks!
    Kate
     
  2. lkranieri

    lkranieri VFG Member

    Please post a picture of the label and I will try to find some information for you.
     
  3. Kate L

    Kate L Registered Guest

  4. lkranieri

    lkranieri VFG Member

    Thank you for the label image. It helps my search to know it was in New York.

    I only did a fast search, but almost every single record I found was from 1969 or 1970. Here are some relevant quotes from newspapers of that period:

    -- (May 1969) "...Another designer, George Nardiello who used to be with Kiki Hart, started work Tuesday at Rona Dresses where George Nardiello for Rona will mean a whole new group of medium priced afternoon and cocktail clothes for fall."

    -- (Dec 1969) "Nardiello for Rona; Although George Nardiello emerged as a designing entity less than a year ago, it is already certain he'll be one of the big fashion names of the 70's."

    -- (Dec 1969) "Nardiello for Rona is a new designer with the American Designer Group."

    -- (Feb 1970) There is a picture of two dresses with an elephant print that seems to be your exact fabric. I inadvertently lopped off the article, but it says: "...might be a big animal, too, like the elephants printed all over these two soft-silk outfits by George Nardiello for Rona. Red, white, and blue costume (left) and red-and-white shirtdress (right) are at Lord & Taylor."

    -- (June 1970) "The queen-size woman will find a friend in George Nardiello for Rona."

    -- (Oct 1970) "NEW YORK -- Business is brisk in the Seventh Avenue building housing some of the most important names in the fashion business. Behind one door labeled Susan Thomas are seven separate lines, and showrooms are bristling with activity as buyers arrive from all over the country to make their selections. And 90 per cent of those selections for winter are pants suits, says Ann Jacobson, the young promotion director for the lines which include -- in addition to Susan Thomas -- adele Martin, STJ, Vivo, Dalani, Rona, Nardiello for Rona, and N.Y. Mackintosh."

    --
    (Oct 1970) "Nardiello for Rona is distinguished for his artistry in the draping of soft fabric..."

    and this photo of him is from a Sept 1970 ad (please do not copy this image and/or use it to sell your dress)...

    GeorgeNardielloPhotoSept1970.jpg



     
    themerchantsofvintage likes this.
  5. Kate L

    Kate L Registered Guest

    Thank you so much for all of that information! May I ask, what search engine did you use, and what newspapers are the quotes from? I'd love to see the pics of the elephant fabric dresses if you could point me in the right direction for access?

    Thanks!
    Kate
     
  6. lkranieri

    lkranieri VFG Member

    I subscribe to a couple of newspaper databases and these few things were from Newspapers.com. Because of their copyright, I don't want to post the entire article here. Perhaps you can find a copy of that paper somewhere, though. It was in the Feb 17, 1970 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on page 7.
     
  7. Kate L

    Kate L Registered Guest

    OK, thanks! I'll see if I can get access through my University. I just watched a presentation on copyright this morning, so I get it. I was able to find him through Ancestry - at least his birth/death dates. He was apparently close with Marilyn Monroe for some years in the 50s as well:

    "George Nardiello designed clothes for her for nearly four years in the mid-’50s, the years when she was under the sway of her business partner Milton Greene, the years when she was married to Joe DiMaggio and dating Arthur Miller. He knew all about her conflicting impulses of expression and concealment. Nardiello was in the service with Bill Blass and ended up designing commercial clothes for the Town and Country set - high-toned dames who put on chiffon on Saturday night. Nardiello spent his last years in South Florida - he died in 2005 at the age of 83 - and he would talk about that strange woman."
     
  8. Deborah Gallo

    Deborah Gallo Registered Guest

    Hello,
    My sister in law is George's daughter. I spent some very enjoyable afternoons with him in Palm Springs before his death. Let me know if you would like more information about George. Is this for a university project? I'm sure he'd be thrilled that he is still being talked about in 2019!
     

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