Curiel couture dresses were a fixture at high society events in Italy in 1950s and '60s. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"It (the exhibition) is not just about seeing the dresses, but how they changed over time in my country. It's like swimming in the history of made in Italy," he says.

This legacy will soon be available to a wider international audience. Curiel and Chinese luxury management company Redstone formed a joint venture in May.

The Curiel family will super-vise the heritage and style of the brand, while Redstone, as the major shareholder, will provide its luxury management expertise and financial muscle to take it global.

Zhao Yizheng, founder and president of Redstone, describes the experience as "having found a diamond in a mountain", and says it is now his duty to "cut it, polish it and make it shine".

Zhao's business model is to seek out small and medium-sized Italian brands and to develop them in China and then take them global.

He has tasted success with Giada, an emerging Italian luxury womens wear brand that now has 59 stores in China and a flagship store on Via Montenapoleone in Milan's central luxury shopping area.

The first Curiel show room is to open in Milan by the end of this year. And the first flagship store will open in Shanghai early next year. This will be fol-lowed by locations in New York, Paris and London.