Biffy’s sisters, the ones who shaped him Milanese style
There are those who never stop looking for something else or someone else who really is. To reach a new goal, to cross a new finish line, to experience a new love in search of otherness that constantly stimulates thought and creativity. Rosie and Adele Biffi know this well, two young, strong-willed sisters from Milan who, in the 1960s, driven by a thirst for innovation, left Italy to flee to “Swinging London”, that magmatic symbol of a decade marked by historical, social and customs. which also suppressed fashion.
Returning to Italy, Rosie and Adele decide to open the first Biffi store in Milan, on Via Fabio Filzi. An ideal time that coincides not only with the birth of Italian ready-to-wear, but also with the irresistible desire to move from one end of the world to the other: a kind of fever of knowledge that brings different cultures into contact, gives rise to an osmotic exchange that mixes differences and gives birth to a new wardrobe of modern a woman, the one who today we can call “smart”.
After two decades of becoming an important reference point for Milanese fashion, the Biffi sisters moved their store to Corso Genova in the 90s. It is here that I meet Carla Sereda, art director and head of purchasing for the Biffi boutique group, and daughter of the third sister, Rachel. It is she who, along with seven other cousins, now heads the family business, which works in the fashion sector with five different retailers, including Bannersa space on Via Sant’Andrea in Milan that skillfully combines fashion, design and art.