Overview
In antiquity the toga and other draped garments, and from the Middle Ages the silk of Lucca and then Florence and Venice, made Italy a centre of textiles and dress.
The story of dress
In the Renaissance, Italy’s courts and its silks and velvets led European fashion. That lead passed to Spain and France in the early modern period, but after the Second World War Italy — centred on Milan, and armed with tailoring and leather craft — again became a driver of world fashion.