TIME TO CELEBRATE: “Small can also be beautiful,” believes Cristina Tardito, the fashion designer behind the Kristina Ti label.
Presenting her photographic book “Kristina Ti Reality,” which celebrates 60 years of her family’s company, Tamigi, Tardito touted the freedom — and “fun” — she has spearheading a niche company which, as such, “must differentiate itself. Staging a fashion show is not for me, I would rather try to do something different to continue to surprise and my goal is to work until the last day.”
A design consultant and producer for a prestigious French brand that can’t be named, she is also at the helm of Tardito Holding, which controls both the Tamigi manufacturing company and Kristina Ti, the women’s fashion brand she established more than two decades ago.
Cristina Tardito
Courtesy of Kristina Ti
Tardito inherited the manufacturing company from her father, who founded it in 1964 and became a leader in the production of underwear and beachwear. But when Tamigi was passed on to the founder’s daughter a decade ago, the company was having financial issues. Looking back, Tardito is happy she succeeded in restructuring the company, expanding its apparel collection, and bringing it to breakeven.
After consulting with the likes of Matthew Williamson at Emilio Pucci and with Rick Owens, during the pandemic Tardito shifted her focus to Kristina Ti once again.
In 2022, she joined the activewear wave, dropping a capsule collection for yoga enthusiasts developed with longtime friend Virginia Galateri di Genola.
Galateri is one of the 15 women photographed by Steve Panariti for the book but mostly the others responded to an online search. “There were 800 applications, and we chose eight based on their personality, aged 18 to 80,” said Tardito. She added that “it wasn’t important for the clothes to be seen in the photos, the goal was to pay tribute to a story that belongs to all women.”
Kristina Ti, entirely produced in Piedmont, Italy, is carried in the brand’s four stores in Milan, Turin and resort towns Porto Cervo, Sardinia and Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany, and on its e-commerce.
Francesca photographed for “Kristina Ti Reality.”
