FASHION

Lucilla Bonaccorsi: It Girl, It Trend

The fashion world prodigy fulfills her destiny.


Lucilla Bonaccorsi
Photographer: Billal Taright Stylist: Eva Geraldine Fontanelli

When she was 8 years old, Lucilla Bonaccorsi had her first major runway moment, closing her mother Luisa Beccaria’s haute couture presentation wearing a gold brocade dress and ballerina flats, a flower tucked into her hair. Now, as a codesigner of the dreamy ultrafeminine brand, the 30-year-old takes a bow with her mom at the end of the Luisa Beccaria ready-to-wear shows. “It was in my blood,” Bonaccorsi says of her fashion destiny. “I didn’t have any questions.”

The oldest of five children to Beccaria and her Sicilian aristocrat husband, Lucio Bonaccorsi, Lucilla was born and raised in Milan, where from a young age she would lie on the carpet in her mother’s atelier and watch her work. She spent vacations at her family’s 18th-century castle, Castelluccio, near Noto in Sicily—a fantasia surrounded by olive and orange groves and almond trees. Large celebrations called for glamorous dresses from Beccaria’s children’s line, like the red velvet number with taffeta bows she wore one Christmas. “I felt like a princess,” Bonaccorsi remembers.

Fairy-tale dresses aside, when Lucilla joined the family company, at 21, she rolled up her sleeves, learning about every facet of the business—from patternmaking to production to press relations. And while she has been contemplating starting her own line, she doesn’t plan to stray far from home. “It could have my name,” she says of her idea for a more affordable, street- savvy variation on her mother’s romantic look. “But it’s stronger to have it be a part of the main brand. There are so many things you can create within one aesthetic. In the end, you sell a dream.”

Photos: Lucilla Bonaccorsi: It Girl, It Trend

Michael Kors cardigan, $1,495, michaelkors.com; Luisa Beccaria dress, $2,060, and belt, $244, thecorner.com; Ca&Lou earrings, $583, saks.com; Ca&Lou necklace, $547, and ring, $307, shopbop.com. Beauty note: Maintain a rosy outlook with Rimmel London Stay Blushed! Liquid Cheek Tint in Sunkissed Cherry.

Photographer: Billal Taright Stylist: Eva Geraldine Fontanelli

Diane von Furstenberg by H. Stern gold with rock crystal necklace, $11,800, hstern.net.

Burberry Prorsum skirt, $2,495, burberry.com.

Favorite Movie

“Blue Jasmine—Woody Allen has a unique way of making tragic moments ironic.” Photograph courtesy of Everett Collection.

Michael Kors blouse, $850, michaelkors.com.

J Brand sweater, $295, select Neiman Marcus, 888.888.4757.

Chloé cuff, $820, Fivestory, New York, 212.288.1338.

Favorite Book

“Gabriel García Márquez captures human life poetically, with a touch of surrealism.” Photograph courtesy of Tim Hout.

Biologique Recherche Crème Hydravit’s.

Alexandre Birman shoes, $595, editorialist.com.

Max Mara coat, $2,390, Max Mara, New York, 212.879.6100.

Early Start

“This is me at 7, standing on the swing, with my mother and my sister Lucrezia. I was so excited to wear my first flower tiara!” Photograph courtesy of Lucilla Bonaccorsi.

Oscar de la Renta bag, $3,395, oscardelarenta.com.

Stella McCartney dress, $4,195, Barneys New York, New York, 212.826.8900.

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