History of Italian fashion century, cheaper silk was imported to Milan from Asia because the phylloxera pest infestation damaged silk and wine produced in Italy. After industrialization, metal, mechanical, and furniture manufacturing replaced textile production. Some of the first modern Italian fashion designers, such as Bulgari, Prada, Gucci, and Ferragamo, were founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1950s and 1960s, Italian fashion regained popularity worldwide. On February 12, 1951, the Italian businessman Giovanni Battista Giorgini held a fashion show in Florence to make Italy an international leader in fashion design. Prior to his "soirées" in 1951 to 1953, Italy
Ho Miu-ling prefer having small feet to a little waist. My vital organs are not affected in any way or injured by the confinement of my feet in childhood, but the health of many an American woman is ruined by the constriction of her waist." In widowhood Ho Miu-ling returned to Hong Kong, where she was a major donor to charities, including building funds for churches and scholarships. Ho Miu Ling Hospital opened in 1906, funded by Ho Miu-ling and operated under the auspices of the London Missionary Society; it eventually merged with two others to form the Alice Ho Miu Ling