Connie Lynn Francis-Cioffi, a former vice chairman of promoting at Anne Klein, died at her house in Miami Seashore on July 3. She was 68.
The reason for demise was metastatic most cancers, based on her husband, John Vincent Cioffi.
Born on Aug. 13, 1955, in Washington, D.C., Francis-Cioffi graduated from the Trend Institute of Expertise as a London Scholar.
Early in her profession, Francis-Cioffi spent 5 years at Pinky & Dianne in public relations. She later moved to Zoran the place she was director of public relations for a yr. She joined Anne Klein in 1984 as director of public relations and promoting, reporting to Louis Dell’Olio, designer for Anne Klein, and Frank Mori, then president of Anne Klein.
Francis-Cioffi dealt with public relations and promoting for each Anne Klein and Anne Klein Studio Ltd., the licensing arm. In 1991, she was promoted to vice chairman and director of promoting for the Anne Klein Attire Group as a part of a brand new company public relations and promoting division shaped to take care of a constant picture for the Anne Klein Cos., which consisted of Anne Klein & Co., A-Line, Anne Klein Attire, Anne Klein II and its licensees, reporting to Andrew Rosen, then president of the Anne Klein Attire Group.
“Connie was your Lady Friday,” mentioned Dell’Olio. “She was loyal, she all the time had my again, and she or he protected me. I adored her. She was good and environment friendly, and she or he knew how one can protect you and hold individuals at bay,” mentioned Dell’Olio on Friday.
Dell’Olio mentioned she was a jack of all trades. “I used to be concerned in all the pieces and each facet of the enterprise, and Connie was proper beside me,” he mentioned.
Virginia Smith, director, World Trend Community at Vogue, and her husband, the designer Pattrick Robinson, each labored with Francis-Cioffi once they had been at Anne Klein.
“Connie had unbelievable style – from engaged on trend campaigns to her lovely house in Vermont. She by no means wished to be entrance and middle, all the time selecting to shine the sunshine on others moderately than herself. She was a quiet pressure however with the most effective snort!” mentioned Smith.
“Everybody adored Connie,” mentioned Kathleen Boyes, a trend author and a former WWD trend editor. “Connie was a powerful, quiet presence, each personally and professionally. She made everybody really feel taken care-of, shortly addressing your wants, no matter how tight the deadline, how pressing the request. She made it occur with out drama or fanfare,” she mentioned.
In an article within the L.A. Occasions in 1991 about controversial and cutting-edge trend promoting, a preferred technique on the time, Francis-Cioffi instructed the newspaper, “Our commercials should not misplaced in lieu of what seems on broadcast tv and in movies.” One of many advertisements featured reincarnation and angered Christian organizations.
Different A-Line TV spots had been sexually suggestive, together with one which ran after 11 p.m. and featured a person and a girl rolling round underneath a sheet and a girl sitting on a mattress eradicating her bra. “Quite a lot of firms justify their advertisements as freedom of speech and the buyer can simply take it or go away it. We’ve by no means geared our commercials to begin controversy. We had been shocked once they did,” she instructed the L.A. Occasions.
In 1994, Anne Klein, underneath then-designer Richard Tyler, did a marketing campaign WWD described as a vampy, aggressive, black-and-white Chris Von Wagenheim-ish nighttime fantasy, full with helicopters, DeLorean automobiles and darkish alleys. In a contemporary interpretation of the “night time in town” theme, Steven Meisel shot 14 black-and-white photographs in New York, and the advertisements had been produced by Anne Klein’s in-house advert workers.
After she left Anne Klein in 1996, she established her personal public relations and promoting company with shoppers that included Anne Klein, Ralph Lauren, Clinique and Irving Penn.
“Connie embraced every chapter of her life with grace and enthusiasm. Her presence introduced heat and pleasure to these round her. She had a outstanding means to attach with individuals, making pals wherever she went, and her kindness touched the hearts of many,” mentioned her husband, John.
He mentioned she had an excellent eye for fashions and produced the Anne Klein and Anne Klein II campaigns in-house. “She would produce the shoot, and on the similar time, assist with the equipment and styling. She liked and breathed the business. Modeling companies would attain out to her for her opinion [about models],” he mentioned, even up till not too long ago. He mentioned she was referred to as the “Velvet Hammer.”
“She was well mannered and knew what she was doing and she or he needed to stand her floor,” he mentioned.
After a profitable profession within the trend business, Francis-Cioffi turned her focus to charitable giving and improvement. One in all her extra important contributions was supporting the work of Dr. Tom Catena and the Gidel Hospital in Sudan, which offers look after greater than 1 million individuals. As well as, Francis-Cioffi was instrumental in funding a 28-bed Francis-Cioffi Pediatric Hospital in Uganda, which treats hundreds of youngsters yearly.
Francis-Cioffi was additionally a passionate advocate for animal welfare.
In keeping with her husband, after they left their everlasting house in New York in 2008, they frolicked in Vermont and Miami Seashore and would proceed to trip to New York.
Along with her husband, to whom she was married for 30 years, Francis-Cioffi is survived by her sisters, Donna Francis and Janet Corridor, and by her seven nieces and nephews.
