There were, in Assemini, two little girls with a specific dream: to make high fashion clothes. Ida and Maria Ausilia Porceddu are now 80 and 85 years old and can say they have made their dream come true. Indeed, they went further: they had the possibility to choose to stay in their Assemini and even the courage to refuse the invitation of the designer Valentino to leave the island to go and work with him.

History

The Porceddu sisters look back on their lives today. «The Second World War had just ended, we wanted to erase the destruction and horror and bring beauty back to the days, we felt the need to regain hope and trust in tomorrow: they dreamed of making clothes that, like a spell, would make women happy and beautiful again."

Their story of female entrepreneurship has the flavor of a fairy tale from times gone by. «Together with my sister Ida, five years older, we attended the Catholic Action», says Maria Ausilia, «we learned to sew from the nuns. Then the doors of the “La Turineisa” atelier opened in via Garibaldi in Cagliari, I was thirteen years old. We were welcomed not only for our excellent skills, elegance of soul was an indispensable requirement. We come from an agro-pastoral background but our parents Giovanna and Luigi taught us to be polite, reflect and be careful not to hurt the sensitivity of others with clumsy actions or words. Attention to others builds a better world, our parents knew the true meaning of style and refinement."

Every morning at dawn the Porceddu sisters reached Cagliari by train and returned home only in the evening, at night they continued to sew in their grandmother Efisia Abis' bedroom «in the silence of the night the noise of the sewing machine lulled her, they stopped us just to give her a caress. Are we bothering you grandma? No, my daughters, your company is sweet."

The success

Their clothes conquer and together with the customers the idea of founding their own atelier grows, Maria Ausilia says: «I was twenty-three years old when I asked for a loan but the CIS official asked me to give up. A cute girl like her, but think about having fun! and then what does he have to mortgage? I replied showing my hands. My hands are my mortgage, if I don't work how can I have fun? I managed to build my atelier despite the official's prejudice. We paraded on very important stages such as the Ariston in Sanremo, the great Valentino was interested in us but I decided to stay in Sardinia next to my family. I wouldn't do anything differently, I feel like I've taken all the possibilities and have always made the right choice. I am the daughter of an era in which women chose to become mothers and wives, we made wedding dresses for many girls, but marriage is a demanding mission and I chose freedom. With needle and thread we realized our dream of high fashion in Sardinia and this was my most beautiful dress."

Angela Caddeo

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