Experience Leonardo da Vinci like never before: Leonardo da Vinci. Pioneer of Fashion and Style, in collab with Istituto Marangoni, reveals the genius behind fashion, beauty & design
What if we told you that Leonardo da Vinci, beyond painting masterpieces, dreaming up flying machines and probing the mysteries of anatomy, was also a pioneer of Italian style? And that, while studying bird flight and the movement of water, he was sketching perfumes, inventing lipsticks, designing textiles, and even anticipating the shimmer of sequins?
Leonardo da Vinci was far too curious to be limited to a single discipline. Restless and multidisciplinary, he could not confine himself to one role or one realm. He was a painter, sculptor, engineer, anatomist, urban planner, architect, botanist—and now, thanks to new research, we can also add fashion, beauty and luxury design to that impressive list. Seriously.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Genius Who Invented Italian Style
Leonardo da Vinci. Pioneer of Fashion and Style, published by Marsilio on 17 October, highlights this lesser-known yet strikingly contemporary aspect of Leonardo. This electrifying and revealing book urges us to rethink Leonardo not only as a universal genius, but also as a pioneer of design, luxury and cosmetics—essentially, as a figure who shaped the culture of beauty. The project celebrates the 90th anniversary of Istituto Marangoni, aiming to inspire new generations of creatives through a cultural reflection on Leonardo as a living model. The research is curated by Maria Pirulli, a leading expert on Leonardo Da Vinci, who has trawled through codices, notes and drawings to uncover a genius who anticipated the rules of contemporary aesthetics: beauty as identity, form as language, and style as applied thought.
Image from the book "Leonardo da Vinci. Pioneer of Fashion and Style"
The book Reveals Leonardo as a Pioneer of Style and Luxury
The scene is Milan at the end of the 15th century: a strategic and vibrant city at the heart of an unprecedented proto-industrial transformation. Here, fine fabrics, leather goods, jewellery, cosmetics and accessories for the elites were being produced. It was a Renaissance of luxury, where beauty equated to power and aesthetics doubled as a form of political expression. Leonardo, at the court of the Sforzas, was not merely a bystander; he actively observed, designed, and intervened. His notebooks offer a magnified vision of reality, where the study of humanity coexists with the desire to reshape its image. He created hair dyes and aromatic blends, adorned textiles with his celebrated “vinciani knots”, and produced decorative accessories for court celebrations. Long before the term “marketing” was coined, Leonardo understood that beauty is not static; it is communicated, constructed, and staged.
Often oversimplified as just a painter or inventor, Leonardo was truly an audacious and multidimensional thinker. He was an artist and scientist, a craftsman and engineer, a visual poet and theorist of aesthetic identity, seamlessly moving across various disciplines. His relentless pursuit of knowledge and innovation led him to explore the world of style, anticipating practices and ideas that now underpin fashion, design and luxury.
As Stefania Valenti, Managing Director of Istituto Marangoni, notes in her preface: “I have always believed that curiosity is the most powerful engine of creative thought. It sparks new ideas, pushes us to explore uncharted territories, and to ask unexpected questions. It was from one such question that this essay originated: If fashion and luxury embody beauty, uniqueness and craftsmanship, could it be that Leonardo da Vinci, with his extraordinary vision, was their earliest precursor?”
In an era that is rediscovering the importance of supply chains, synaesthesia and cross-disciplinary thinking, Leonardo feels uncannily contemporary. Picture a creative workshop where neuroscience meets tailoring, philosophy integrates with sustainable materials, and visual storytelling merges with design. Isn’t that the blueprint for a school of fashion and design fit for the future?
How Leonardo da Vinci Inspired Beauty, Fashion and Creativity
Leonardo da Vinci. Pioneer of Fashion and Style is more than just a historical analysis. The book is an invitation to see Leonardo as a guide for today’s creators, including young designers, innovators in beauty, visual storytellers, trend forecasters, and textile artists. This narrative bridges the Renaissance with the metaverse, linking artisan workshops to the digital culture of luxury houses, and intertwining the perfumes of the court with the olfactory identities of modern brands. If the phrase “Made in Italy” still carries pride and prestige today, it is partly due to figures like Leonardo, who recognised the formative and transformative power of beauty. This influence manifests as a method, a practice, and a daily act of reinvention that can change our perception of the world.
“Here we encounter Leonardo grappling with looms and gilding tools, with beauty recipes coveted by noblewomen such as Beatrice d’Este, Lucrezia Borgia and Caterina Sforza. We see him staging spectacular events, attending to every detail of garments and accessories, and conceiving an Academy of knowledge where art, science and craftsmanship converge,” Valenti notes in her preface.
From Renaissance Genius to Father of Modern Multidisciplinary Education
What kind of school would Leonardo imagine today? Certainly not an ivory tower, or an academy trapped in formalism. More likely, a tireless workshop where creativity takes shape through technique, where beauty is measured against utility, and where art, science, craft and philosophy intertwine like threads in a single fabric.
The hyperbolic genius of infinite talents anticipated what is now known as the AFAM method: a modern, multidisciplinary approach in which the workshop serves as a dynamic stage for experimentation, and creativity is understood as an ongoing educational process. It would be a place where hands and minds work together, where disciplines remain fluid and knowledge is interconnected. Here, perfumes are designed based on the codes of nature, textiles are drawn using algorithms, and synaesthetic connections are built between image, sound and matter. It’s a space where luxury is sustainable, fashion is ethical, and creativity is both formative and expressive.
This vision is embodied by Istituto Marangoni, which is not a classical academy but a multidisciplinary forge where talent is shaped by crossing boundaries. It’s a place where luxury is a matter of culture, and creativity is cultivated through doing, experimenting, and reinventing.
Anna Maria Bernini, Italy’s Minister of Universities and Research, underlines the point in her preface: “Leonardo da Vinci is the universal symbol of knowledge that unites art and science, technique and imagination, form and function. He represents an educational model that connects rather than separates. In this sense, Leonardo is also regarded as the ideal father of the Higher Education in Art, Music and Dance (AFAM) system. Today, AFAM institutions inherit and renew that Renaissance tradition, viewing the artist as a researcher, the workshop as a place of thought, and the artwork as a synthesis of knowledge and practice.”
Valenti concludes: “This book is a tribute to Leonardo, but also a manifesto for the future. His synaesthetic, multidisciplinary approach is the same one that inspires our educational model—observation, experimentation, and the blending of knowledge. This approach guides us in training curious, independent minds, capable of recognising connections and creating value.”
Leonardo da Vinci. Pioneer of Fashion and Style is a book for those who dare to connect different fields, who study with ink-stained hands and believe that true beauty possesses the power to change the world.
Francesca Delogu
Journalist