Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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photography by Spencer grant/getty ImageS Alfred Fiandaca's designs, seen at fashion shows like this one at the Copley Plaza Hotel in 1975, helped put Boston on the radar of the beau monde. "When I look at this picture, I have so many emotions!" says Doris Yaffe, the former longtime publicist for Boston fashion designer Alfred Fiandaca. "This was one of our fashion shows at the Copley Plaza Hotel" (now the Fairmont Copley Plaza). It was 1975 —the year Louise Fletcher starred in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the film that earned her an Oscar for best sup- porting actress, which she accepted in an ethereal ivory gown by Fiandaca. "We produced fashion shows in Boston at a time when there were not many fashion shows in the city," says Yaffe, "and no fashion whatsoever." Except, of course, the styles created by Fiandaca, the humble boy from East Boston who learned how to sew costumes for his toy puppets almost before he learned how to walk. In elementary school, he cut patterns along- side his father, a third-generation Italian tailor at the Harvard Coop (his mother was a seamstress). Fiandaca studied design at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and went on to open his own studio on Maverick Street, attracting the upper echelon of society women with his eye for simple silhouettes and his feel for luxe fabrics. "Back then, the Boston Brahmins ruled the city," says Yaffe. "Chauffeurs drove these ladies to Alfred's studio in Eastie. It's not like now, when girls can be stylish without having to spend a lot of money. Then, you had to be very wealthy to dress well." Fiandaca's vivid suits, bespoke coats, and taffeta gowns would ultimately catch the eyes of Hollywood leading ladies like Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Julie Andrews—even Cher. More recently, before Fiandaca passed away in 2013, Ann Romney wore his signature elec- tric-pink sheaths during husband Mitt's 2012 presidential campaign. "Oh, he was a charmer," Yaffe says. "I never knew anyone who did not adore Alfred." BC First Ladies WomensWear Designer Alfred fiAndAcA struck a pose for fashion in Boston that turneD heaDs in hollyWooD. by lisa pierpont 16 bostoncommon-magazine.com FRONT RUNNER