10 Prints That Became Icons in Fashion History

In 1968, Emilio Pucci translated the reflections of Capri’s Blue Grotto into the Marmo pattern. On fabric, the light of the water takes the form of sinuous lines that follow the body and change with movement.

Ken Scott also looked to nature, approaching it until it lost its sense of proportion. In his macro-floral prints, peonies, poppies and sunflowers take over the entire surface. They expand to cover the garment, expressing the vibrant colours of the 1960s and 1970s.

Gucci interpreted flowers on a smaller scale. In 1966, Vittorio Accornero designed Flora for a scarf created for Grace Kelly. Flowers, plants and insects intertwine on silk like a botanical illustration. The reference to Botticelli’s Primavera runs through this garden, which Gucci has revisited over the years by changing its colours and proportions.

In 1965, Karl Lagerfeld entrusted the Fendi universe to two letters: FF, the initials of “Fun Fur”. When repeated across the fabric, they created the Zucca motif, used on linings, handbags, knitwear and accessories.

Missoni achieved recognisability through the loom. The archive dates the first zig zag pattern to Fall/Winter 1967, when Raschel machines intertwined geometry and colour directly into the garment. The zig zag is instantly recognisable, yet it originates from the yarn itself and can also be felt by touch.

With Roberto Cavalli, animal print became a second skin. Leopard, zebra, tiger and python patterns returned from collection to collection, each time with different proportions and colours. What holds this visual language together is its relationship with the body, at the centre of a sensual and immediately recognisable style.

Etro was founded in 1968 as a textile company and introduced the paisley motif in 1981. The pattern derives from the ancient boteh, which travelled between Asia and Europe over the centuries. The maison explores its scales and combinations, treating the archive as a living resource and preserving the memory of previous textiles.

The Baroque motif entered Versace’s repertoire with the Fall/Winter 1991 collection. Golden scrolls, leaves and flowers run across a black background like architectural decoration. Gianni Versace brought the memory of antiquity and the taste for seventeenth-century ornament onto garments, reinterpreting them through a contemporary sensibility.

Twenty years later, Miuccia Prada took a different direction. For Spring/Summer 2011, described by her as “minimal baroque”, she combined bananas, monkeys, stripes and baroque curls. The bananas were reduced to a simple, almost graphic silhouette. Their familiarity, placed within a collection built with great control, made them unforgettable.

With Maiolica, Dolce & Gabbana looks to a Sicily also told through ceramics and everyday objects. Flowers, arabesques and geometric patterns reinterpret the tradition of Caltagirone, where colour has accompanied daily life for centuries. The blue-and-white combination became the most recognisable element. Transferred onto garments and accessories, this decorative language brings the memory of the island’s applied arts into fashion.