by Kenny Bonavitacola, a designer who worked for a dozen American brands, died on Thursday at the age of 71.
Bonavitacola died 13 days after his sister Alexis diagnosis in the Hospital table in New York City of Pancreas Cancer.
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Services are planned in Philadelphia, the city of its birth, and a monument to New York City can take place at a later date.
When Bonavitacola grew up in South Philadelphia, he received a taste of fashion from his grandmother’s maternal side, who was a seamstress, and his mother, who headed the children’s clothing business called Little Beth Boutique until 2017. Two of his friends in his hometown also became style seters – The Artist and Fashion Illustrator Bil Donovan and the designer Ralph Rucci. (The trio remained lifelong friends.)
Bonavitacola’s creative path began to formulate in his early teenagers when he would drape a statue of the “blessed mother” in Beautiful things in May, which is dedicated to honoring her in the Catholic tradition, said Alexis Bonavitacola. “He had his love for fashion from then on [laughs.] He always drew and drew. Even if he was punished at school that he did not cut it off well, he didn’t care. He would only draw. ”
Donovan, the artist in Residence with Christian Dior Beauty, remembered on Thursday how the Philadelphia inquirer had been transmitted years ago on his newspaper route, and answered the door of the house of his family, and the teenagers recognized each other from their first semester in the Bishop Neumann High School. Donovan said: “We spoke briefly and he invited me to stop by at the lunch of his grandparents, the B&G, after my route to the cheese steak.”
This led to daily meetups, which were more about their common interest in fashion and drawing than about the cheese steaks. Donovan said: “Kenny would draw tons of designs on the packaging paper [for the cheesesteaks] -Glamorous Perlenhollywood dresses with the required Barbra Streisand nose. I would then create illustrations of his designs. We were inseparable and came up with each other and shared our dreams, successes, failures, humor, but always our love for each other, what is eternal. “
Before completing the Fashion Institute of Technology, Bonavitacola, Bonavitacola taught himself under the master Piero Dimitri by Dimitri Couture. He later worked as a director of licensed products at Sant ‘Angelo, where he carried out product areas such as sportswear, lingerie, clothes, bathing clothes and accessories. It was there under Giorgio di Sant ‘Angelo that his talent “inflamed”, said Rucci. Bonavitacola also ensured that the tailor-made design of the label for the top shelf customers of the designer such as Mick Jagger and Lena Horne met quality quality. He worked with Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez, Cheryl Tiegs and other celebrities.
From 1975 to 1986, Bonavitacola designed a namesake label, which was reported in WWD, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Town & Country. In fact, a design from its first collection ended up on the cover of WWD-Blouson Sheer Chiffon Top with a red chiffon bra and sash with highly tailored white pique shorts. His collection was sold to Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, and the designer had his own business in Midtown at the end of the 1970s. Bonavitacola held designer post with Kasper Dress, Tahari, Cassin and the Warren Group. In 2003 he decided not to extend his contract and resigned as Design Director by Bill Bill Blass, the licensed clothing department of BBS International. He also acted his private label program, where JC Penney’s and Dillard’s belonged. He was originally appointed design director of another BBS International -licensed company, Perry Ellis Dress, until this license had expired in 2002.
Rucci described Bonavitacola as “a true designer who could not only draw beautiful sketches, but he was able to drape, do the toile, sew the pattern and he was so consistently full of his work. There was never placking with him.”
From 2010 to 2014, Bonavitacola worked for Ready-to-Wear, Plus-Size and Bridal at Tadashi Shoji. During his career, he also created products for Nordstrom, Davids Bridal, Anthropology’s Bhldn, the home shopping network and QVC.
Shoji said on Thursday: “While I have extensively about his Couture expertise, his exquisite eye on the design, his deep appreciation for craftsmanship and his sketches, which you have fired away, to his infectious joy and his honest and true enthusiasm, the warming and with his real spirits, and his real spirits, which dealt with the celebration and its real tendency, and his True spirit that HEIDE and its real gourmet speaks.
Before the LGBQTIA+ activism was more organized, Bonavitacola Kenneth Boyce had commissioned to dress in women’s clothing than being his receptionist, said Rucci. He also wrote a piece about the life and AIDS-related death of Boyce, who was the title “In a word wow!”
It was known that Bonavitacola held time for prospective designers or a friend of a friend who would like to talk to him about the view of working in the fashion industry. His sister said: “It just didn’t matter what they needed. Kenny was always there, always there – no matter what happens. He always found the time to become a mentor. I think he loved it the most,” she said.
She remembered how he came to the New York City School years ago, where she was the headmistress to help the female students “lived in poverty” to remove Halloween. “He got some of his friends and they put together frames and clothes for these girls. He brought together a few other fashion people and they dressed the girls so they could look beautiful and chic,” said Alexis Bonavitacola.
At the time of his death, Bonavitacola used to maintain the next generation of creative people by doubling his efforts to fit and characterically. His sister said on Thursday that he told her a few days ago, as he had recently spent two weeks instead of the more standard -45 minutes in the context of an evaluation, and was announced that he would never have to worry about having a job again because of his wisdom and talent. Regardless of whether you help the students find the best resources for stones for decorations or for certain substances that the designer had, she said. A FIT spokesman described him on Thursday as a “valued member of the Fit faculty in the fashion department”.
Although he tried to impress her how designs have to be selling, this did not always resonance, according to his sister. “Kenny said:” I will never tell you “no.” Let them dream and do what you really want to do.
In addition to his sister, Bonavitacola is survived by his mother Catherine and a brother Joseph.
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