Violetta is a fashion & textile brand started by Francesca Salvalaggio in 2016, focusing on hand painted prints and Womenswear clothing.
Francesca grew up and studied in London; her father is Venetian and her mother is Neapolitan/English. Her brand and style of her prints and clothing have been inspired by her Italian roots.
By 2016, Francesca launched her brand and had her first show in her apartment and invited family and friends. Her flat became her atelier, inviting mostly friends and family for fittings while also painting prints for customers.
Slowly she started selling to a small boutique on Kensington Park Road in Notting Hill called, Nellie’s Atelier. Shortly after she opened a Violetta Pop-Up shop on Westbourne Grove in 2018 and it was very successful. She continued to take commissions from clients. In October 2020 during the Covid pandemic she had an art exhibition in her garden showcasing all her latest painted prints for sale.
At an early age, Francesca loved visiting her grandmothers shop, ‘Dina’ in Venice where she saw her grandmother selling beautiful clothing to customers. She found this world magical. She also grew up with her aunt who was a textile designer in London and taught her to paint original textile repeat prints.
Francesca’s love grew for painting and she attended Chelsea college of Art where she excelled in her Textiles BA in 2010. That same year, she worked with JW Anderson making accessories and pieces for photoshoots. Later leading to work at Celine under Phoebe Philo, in fabric development. In 2012 she continued her studies and went to Central Saint Martins to study MA Material Futures. In 2014 she quit her course, as much as she had learnt and grown from it, she had a burning desire to start her own brand, and named it ‘Violetta’, inspired by her grandmother’s love for dried Violets found in Venice.
Currently Francesca continues to create paintings and womenswear clothing from her studio in Notting Hill, London.