When the young Loren first met her future husband, the film producer Carlo Ponti, she was just 15 and he was a 37 year old married father of two. He came across her at a beauty contest, quickly becoming her mentor and manager and steering her towards stardom both at home and in Hollywood.  They were lovers by the time she was 19 and married when she was 22 – in spite of some stiff competition from Cary Grant, who Loren had starred with in The Houseboat. Ponti and Loren went on to have one of the most successful marriages in show business. His savvy and her talent propelled her into a new stratosphere of success, one that saw her win countless awards including the first ever Oscar for best actress in a non English speaking role. Equally successful was their partnership at home. In spite of a difficult start (they were forced to annul his initial marriage after the Italian authorities refused to grant him a divorce from his first wife, fighting tooth and nail for the right to wed until 1966, when it was finally granted, in France,) they were together for 50 years. When Ponti died in 2007, Loren was asked if she’d ever remarry. She replied, “No, never again. It would be impossible to love anyone else”.

                

Early on, Ponti had promised Sophia, “the most beautiful house in the world.” That house turned out to be an extremely grand 16^th Century villa in Marino, not too far from Rome. Captured in 1964 in a series of photographs by LIFE magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, their life there seems to have been the very embodiment of La Dolce Vita. The grand, main house with its shuttered and balconied façade looked over gardens full of fig trees whilst the interiors were opulent, furnished with the couple’s art collection as well as wonderful antique tapestries and furniture. Images of Sophia strolling through the garden picking flowers, breakfasting on the terrace or lounging by the pool reveal a barefoot chic side to the bombshell that absolutely chimes with our Spring Summer collection, one in which raffia bags and wooden clutches, earthy colors and heady prints all come together to bring a little bit of just this sort of sun drenched allure to the party.

In much the way that Loren has always been a truly Italian kind of movie star, so her home and approach to style and beauty seems to dance to the same intoxicating tune. Given the carefree glamor it exudes, we defy you not to yearn for a piece of it.

Photo Courtesy of Life Archives

Imagine you’re dancing in your fabulous kaftan, barefoot, under the stars at some taverna turned disco in an impossibly chic beachside destination and you’ll begin to get the gist! We wanted to capture the headiness of summer nights as well as that lovely, slightly earthy, ethereal feeling that comes with them. It’s all about dancing and music and wine under the stars and a very effortless kind of glamor.

Have you got any personal favorites?