Lavinia Biagiotti sets out vision for fashion house

(by Patrizia Vacalebri).
    (ANSA) - Rome, August 1 - Lavinia Biagiotti Cigna has been named CEO and president of the Biagiotti Group.
    The new board of the Rome-based fashion house, which follows the sudden death on May 26 of Laura Biagiotti at 74, also includes the former CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo, Michele Norsa.
    In a statement, Laura Biagiotti's daughter Lavinia said it was with "great pride and sense of continuity that I take the double role of president and CEO of Biagiotti Group, roles that were filled over our company's 52 years by my grandmother Delia, my mother Laura and my father Gianni Cigna".
    Biagiotti Cigna said the company's development was strictly connected to "family history and the birth of Made in Italy to which my mother gave key impulse".
    She will also chair the Biagiotti Progetto Arte foundation set up by her parents, which owns the most important collection of a key proponent of Futurism, Giacomo Balla.
    "The sad truth is that the day after my mother's funeral I had to start working on the collection that will debut at the Milan fashion week women's shows on September 24", she told ANSA.
    "It is a tragedy that repeats itself, mom too had to work for the next fashion show the day after dad's funeral" when Biagiotti Cigna was 17, she said.
    The board elected her unanimously to mark management continuity, "recognizing the innovative approach given to the development of the Laura Biagiotti brand".
    Michele Norsa has been appointed vice-president.
    Norsa is an experienced top manager who previously worked at Valentino and Salvatore Ferragamo.
    Fabio Virgilii and Demetrio Minuto have been confirmed, respectively, as senior vice-president and advisor.
    "My company's history is one of far-sightedness and pioneering visions that took us to be the first to stage a show in China in 1988, taking fashion to the Celestial Empire, and in Russia in 1995", said Biagiotti Cigna.
    The brand's core essence is "a style made of quality, research and experimentation", Biagiotti Cigna noted, saying she is inspired by her mother's "joyous, rigorous and coherent approach in the never-ending quest for the dress that isn't there".