Hello! Unearthed this wonderful pair of wide-pleated near-to-floor length culottes. The color is deep eggplant, the pleats are wide. What I love most is the fabric. There is no fabric tag. I've attached a closeup of it. The label reads "Maurizio Rahmani Per Police File." I could not find this label anywhere online; it is not in VFG's Label Resource Guide either. There are Maurizio Ramani jackets (Rahmani without the "h") on eBay but nothing with the "h". The label suffix of "Per Police File" sounds like one of those cool labels from the 70s when many labels from UK manufacturers in particular contained a suffix or unusual extra words. Also the UK band, The Police, formed in '77 and performed until '86. My Rahmani label's suffix could be a nod to the band. Questions: Does anybody know anything at all more about the original label "Maurizio Rahmani Per Police File"? I'd love to see other items from that line. Also, does anyone have input as to the period of these long wide-pleated culottes? Probably 70s? Thank you in advance for comments you might offer. Mia
I only had time to do a very fast search for the label and found only one hit in that time. A 1990 article about fashions from Spain references a model wearing fashions from Rahmani: "Michael wears Maurizio Rahmani for Police File pants ($63) and shirt ($68)." I suspect the misspelled Ramani on eBay is just due to typos by the sellers. Do they show labels with that spelling?
Lynne, That was a good idea - I hadn't bothered to look at the labels on the eBay listings because the auctions all were for jackets of mostly a southwestern-theme and seemed very un-Rahmani like compared to the pleated culottes. I just attached 2 eBay labels - the sellers were not misspelling. There is no "h" in the name but the second label below clearly is the same designer, wouldn't you agree? It appears then that the red, blue & yellow label below also is of the same designer. Thank you so much for unearthing the one reference. So I guess the pants are c 1990 and not earlier. Thank you for that. Mia
Well, that's quite a headscratcher. When I searched for "Maurizio Ramani" I got eleven hits for items recently for sale by vintage fashion sellers, as opposed to the one Rahmani ad I cited in my prior reply here. I should note that one of the newspapers was advertising a serape "strip" (should be "stripe") shirt by Maurizio Ramani, so spelling was not one of their strengths. When I switched to Google.es (Google Spain) and searched for "Maurizio Rahmani," then clicked on Images, there were a couple more Rahmani labels and MANY unrelated references to people with the last name of Rahmani, There were also images of Native American blanket design jackets, with the label spelled Ramani. IIRC the labels with Rahmani also referred to Police File, but the Ramani ones did not. I honestly don't have an explanation, but will continue to search.
I found a reference to Ramani in a mid-1992 well-known women's fashion magazine: "NEW YORK --"This business is about putting your finger on the right button," said Maurice Ramani, owner of Police File Inc., a women's and men's sportswear firm. After three years in the contemporary market, Ramani believes bndge is the right button. He has launched Maurizio, a new bridge sportswear collection for holiday-resort. His company also produces Maurizio Ramani, a contemporary line, and Police File, a contemporary men's wear collection." The article added: "Ramani and his wife, Hillary, opened Police File six years ago. Their first product was men's wear under the company signature. They noticed women were buying their men's jackets, so in 1988 they entered women's wear with unisex jackets. They launched a full-fledged contemporary women's line in 1990." I have no explanation for the discrepancy, other than perhaps the item you have was purchased in Spain (thus the "Per" Police File?) where the name was spelled Rahmani, and spelled Ramani here, to ward off the inevitable misspelling? I have no idea.
