Our story
A whole life
dedicated
to teaching
The founder
Alma Gadotti
Alma Gadotti was born in Trento in 1926, daughter of Alessandro and Natalia Demozzi, owners of a shoe shop in the city.
As soon as she finished professional training school, she found employment for a few months at the Court as a typist. The work undertaken did not satisfy her and therefore, despite the good results achieved up to then, she left the position and left for Rome, where she attended the Bellizzi cutting and sewing school. She had finally found a job she was passionate about.
But the devil wanted to have a hand in it because, after just a year, war broke out and then Alma had to return to Trento, from where she immediately left, displaced with her family, for Vigolo Vattaro. There the father moved his shoemaking business, the only way to make ends meet in those difficult times.
It is then that Alma makes her first experiment in the field of fashion: she organizes and completes, free of charge, her first cutting and sewing course, enjoying incredible success. He was only 17 years old and so he was able to experience what he had learned in Rome in a short time.
The first collaborations
Michelin
Once the war was finally over, he returned to the capital and completed his studies in just two years and obtained his teaching qualification, obtained directly from the Ministry of Education with top marks (30/30).
From that moment his activity knows no limits. Having returned to her city, she began collaborative work with Michelin, which needed workers trained in tailoring work. He thus passed on to an incalculable number of young and old what he had learned, allowing them to specialize. This collaboration continued for thirteen years, until 1960.
The first historic headquarters in Trento
The school
In the meantime, she opens her school in the city center.
Also supported by two sisters, Giovanna and Cornelia, she increases her activity and consolidates it. Stealing time from time, she marries and gives birth to two children, without ever abandoning her beloved job.
In the rare moments of rest, she constantly prepares handouts, which she then distributes to her students so that they better learn what she teaches them; she reworks these writings that are still valid and recognized by all, so much so that, revised, corrected and completed with photos and captions, they become a book published by the publishing house S. Paolo of Alba.
Newsletter
Fashion, stories and inspirations
Newsletter
Fashion, stories and inspirations
Newsletter
Fashion, stories and inspirations
A whole life dedicated to teaching
The lessons
There are several thousand people who have attended the lessons that Alma Gadotti has held over the years and who have gained useful teachings both in work for family members and in being able to undertake the profession of seamstresses.
The lessons taught have also given the most enterprising students the opportunity to specialize in high-end tailoring and wedding dresses, gaining general appreciation from customers and considerable success.
In the meantime, the activity that we could define as editorial has continued as Mrs. Gadotti has constantly updated her handouts and then published other books that are increasingly beautiful and more complete.
The pursuit of perfection
"Desfa"
Her habit, her belief in precision have always led her to have all the scheduled jobs carried out to perfection, so much so that her students have coined the nickname “Desfa” (“to destroy” in Trentino dialect), due to the fact that, if a garment was not made to perfection, the only solution, first recommended and then also imposed, was to undo everything, and then redo it with patience and method.
Her “students” have always loved her very much, not only those who attended the courses that Alma held free of charge for the benefit of those who particularly needed it, but also all the others, who had the opportunity to know her and fully understand how willingly she always responded to their requests.
On June 2, 2000, she was awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro.
The daughter Marilena
Family run
Her daughter Marilena, who has always been “nourished” with the air of a “cutting and sewing school”, has gradually entered her mother’s business. But we are now launched into the future…
Marilena Caliari was born in Trento with her professional career already practically marked out: in fact, her mother Alma Gadotti, with her sisters, was the owner – in the 1950s – of the first cutting and sewing school in the Trentino capital.
As is well suited to daughters of art, Marilena… enrolled at the Institute for surveyors in Trento, precisely to try to avoid what seemed already written. Marilena Caliari discovered that what awaited her was actually what had been marked out: work in the school and especially in the atelier that would then come to complete the school.
Thus began the collaboration with her mother who passed on all her “knowledge” to her daughter.
After this period, she continued her studies by attending specialization courses in the major Italian centers
Looking to the future
The new millennium
In 1990 the “epochal turning point”: the cutting and sewing school passed into the hands of Marilena Caliari who, while respectful of the path traced in over half a century by her mother, impressed on the teaching imparted to hundreds of students every year, that turning point that would lead her to find the most suitable and adequate solutions for dressing and creating in the new millennium.
The courses and the preparation and adaptation phase, which lasted several years, led to a truly unique awareness and conscience: in 1997 the party for the 50th anniversary of activity, the parade of the garments made by the students, the apotheosis of a cycle that was coming to an end but that had sown the seeds for what would be: the union of the haute couture atelier with the Gadotti cutting and sewing school.
"Marilena Caliari High Fashion"
The School today
It happens that, in the year 2000, the family-run school turns into a company.
With Anna Bianchi, a skilled seamstress, the new brand “Marilena Caliari Alta Moda” is born and the aim is to validate the experiences and achievements achieved up to that point, but with the intent of guaranteeing a path based on research, professional seriousness and awareness that the city of Trento needs a high fashion house.
And this is what Marilena Caliari and Anna Bianchi have achieved: a very popular school, with 9-month courses, attended during the day and in the evening by hundreds of students who learn the fundamental notions of sewing and modeling.
But at the same time, the atelier in via Pilati 27 has also become a point of reference for those who have understood that a high fashion item must be created by following the trend, but above all by interpreting the personality of the designer and of the person who will then wear the elegant dress.
Milestones and Recognitions
Success Stories
As a “consecration” of the choice aimed at the important garment but at the same time not so exclusive as to make it unapproachable, the decision of Adriana Volpe, showgirl, television presenter, model and VIP of the national-popular star system, to marry the idea of Marilena Caliari, becoming the face and in this case also the “body”, of the stylistic creations.
With a professional and human relationship that has revealed, if there was any need, the happy intuitions of the Trentino designer.
And this is what Marilena Caliari, despite her young age, has managed to obtain.
The completion of this process is also concretely underlined by the fact that Marilena Caliari has been on the board of directors of the Association of Artisans and Small Businesses of the Province of Trento, clothing sector, for 7 years and from 2001 to 2009 she was president of the same, always with regards to her category.
She participated in Miss Italy, in this sense, it is also a gratification that underlines the commitment, the skill and the seriousness of the Trentino stylist. Numerous events, fashion shows and conferences, organized.
In 2002 she opened a new office in Bolzano organizing courses also in German.
In 2004 she was awarded the title of “MASTER CRAFTSMAN”
In 2005 she began an agreement with the A.Vittoria Art Institute of Trento.
In 2008 a new section opened, that of embroidery.
From 2009 to 2018 new courses were introduced
in 2020 a big decision to find a space more suitable for the services offered.
The renovated school
The new headquarters
On June 3, 2020, at the venerable age of 94, the founder Alma Gadotti left us.
In the same year, we faced the big decision to find a more suitable structure that would allow us to offer more services.
The move to Via Guardini allows us to take advantage of large spaces.
We were able to enrich the offer of additional services and even the classic organization of the courses has undergone a good innovative increase in the training of the fashion sector.
With the establishment of the Fashion design class, an excellent sector for Trentino craftsmanship, as commented by Councilor Bisesti, the first young student stylist who participates in a Tailor made television selection “Chi ha la stoffa” is maturing.
Other interesting opportunities for the students who attend with great participation alternate throughout the year.
Among these, the photography class managed by a professional in the sector and the lights…shadows and colors class in which the student was able to express all his creativity in full freedom of expression.
Through the collaboration of Fabio and Juan, “The leitmotif of leitmotivs” is also proposed, a meeting dedicated to creativity that develops in two phases: painting and draping.
