MORABITO BRAND HISTORY

JEAN BAPTISTE MORABITO

“Luxury is not exceptional, it is the exceptional which is luxurious.”
Jean-Baptiste Morabito, the founder of MORABITO often repeated.

In 1905, MORABITO was founded by Jean-Baptiste MORABITO, craftsman-jeweller of great repute.

Created with the jeweler’s aesthetics, the royalties and VIPs across the world were instantly besieged by the delicate beauty of the MORABITO pieces. In his passionate pursuit for beauty, Jean-Baptiste worked the finest material with his sophisticated sense, devoting his life to creating the elegantly distinctive gems which define MORABITO.

The spirit of the founder, Jean-Baptiste MORABITO, lives throughout our maison even to this day.
MORABITO, the premium tradition in bags and accessories whose name remains synonymous with class and esprit, continues to infuse refined beauty in the fashion scenes across the world.

MOVIE

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

1880-: Born 1885 to a family of jewelry craftsmen in Naples, Jean-Baptiste Morabito was only twenty when he opened a jewelry and travel trunks boutique in Nice in 1905, after having ten years of tough training in Rome where he gained various techniques in the art of jewelry making.
He fashioned pieces in gold, silver, coral and tortoiseshells. His boutique quickly became a favorite with the European aristocracy and international high society who vacationed on the Côte d’Azur.

1910-: During the Belle Epoque, the popular evening bags were elegant silk balloon sacs finished with gold and silver clasps. Having already established his name as the specialist in tortoiseshell, Jean-Baptist Morabito introduced an evening balloon sac with tortoiseshell clasp. The new evening bag became a sensation amongst the society ladies who were getting rather tired of the gold / silver clasps.
Jean-Baptiste quickly followed this with a new evening bag using cut beads. This soon became another sensation in the Parisian social circle and the evening bags with beads became a standard in high society.

1920-: In 1921, Jean-Baptiste Morabito relocated to the center of fashion, Paris, and opened his boutique in the capital on the rue Saint Honoré. There he continued to introduce products of his specialty which were leather, precious accessories, travel trunks, etc.

1940-: In 1947, Morabito entered the world of perfumes and launched “MORABITO No.7”. The perfume bottles with tortoises the icon of brand, was designed in crystal at the workshop owned by his friend René Lalique.
Around the same time, Jean-Baptiste revamped the long-strap shoulder bag which was launched before the war.
As the WWII ended and more women were seen being active in the society, this shoulder bag won the votes of many active women, transforming the world of bag fashion.

1950-: In 1951, Jean-Baptiste Morabito opened its boutique at 1 Place Vendome, the heart of top jewelry Maisons. In this boutique, he received Tout-Paris, the international jet set, royal families, and leather goods aficionados, since Morabito had now developed this crafts into an art.

In 1958, Morabito completes the bag ORSAY loved by Marilyn Monroe, ORSAY served also as a travel vanity case hence its name, the old train station where a journey from Paris begun.
And still now, ORSAY is one of the Morabito’s iconic bag widely loved all over the world.

1960-: In 1961, the TRAVIATA were dedicated to Maria Callas the opera legend. The bag takes after her iconic performance, “La Traviata”. With the curved handle that takes the harp as a motif, TRAVIATA not only is celebrated for its artistic beauty but remains one of the symbolic Morabito pieces that carries the graceful elegance.

1970-: In 1971, Madame Pompidou offered a crocodile VENDOME bag to the Japanese Empress during an official visit.

1990-Present: In 1996, Morabito opened the boutique on the Avenue Georges V.
After having spent the 1990’s on the Avenue Georges V, in 2007 Morabito decided to open a boutique once again on the rue Saint Honoré, a few meters from the original location of Jean-Baptiste Morabito’s first boutique in Paris.