Laila Coslovich - Luxury Tennis Couture: A Dream Stitched in Sicily
The most important stories begin long before we imagine
Every time I sit at my father's drafting table to draw the lines of a new tennis dress, I feel like I'm not just designing a dress. I am continuing a story that spans generations, crafts, passions, and different territories.
Behind every Laila Coslovich dress there isn't just a fabric, a pattern, or a creative idea. There is a family legacy made up of engineers, architects, surveyors, tailors, and extraordinary women who, each in their own way, taught me the value of beauty, precision, and work well done.
If today I design tailored tennis dresses inspired by Italian elegance, it is because in some way I am continuing a story that began long before my brand was born.
My roots: the technical precision of the Coslovi Longo family
From my father's side of the family, I inherited a passion for technical drawing and the rigor of design, and I learned how to build.
My grandfather, Salvatore Longo, originally from Giardini Naxos, was the first engineering graduate from his town in the 1920s. After graduating in Padua, he returned to Sicily, welcomed by local authorities and the town band, an event that testifies to how extraordinary that achievement was considered for the time.
He later worked for a long time in Trieste and, after the Second World War, settled in Taormina with my grandmother Emilia Coslovi.
My father, the surveyor Salvatore Coslovi Longo, studied Architecture with my mother Antonella Russotti and has been competently and professionally running the family business for over sixty years. It was he who passed on to me the love for technical drawing and familiarity with tools that have been part of my life since childhood: set squares, rulers, colors, drafting machines, and drawing tables.
As a child, I spent hours watching him work on his projects. I was fascinated by the precision with which each line found its place and by that silent dialogue between creativity and method that took shape on the paper.
Today, it is precisely on that large workbench that I cut fabrics, create patterns, and design my tennis dresses. The same drafting machine that for decades hosted architectural plans, elevations, and geometric calculations, now accommodates fashion sketches and new collections. Every time I use it, I feel I am part of a continuity that unites past and future.
The meaning of the name Laila Coslovich
Even the name of my brand tells a family story.
Coslovich was my grandmother Emilia's original surname, born in Istria and later moved to Sicily. During the Fascist period, the surname was Italianized, as happened to many families from those territories.
When I chose my brand's name, I felt the desire to reclaim that part of my identity and restore it to its rightful place.
The suffix "-ich," which in Slavic languages recalls the meaning of "daughter of," represents for me a symbol of belonging, memory, and gratitude towards my origins. It is a tribute to the people who came before me and who, without knowing it, helped build the woman I am today.
The sartorial tradition of the Russotti family
If from my paternal side I inherited design rigor, from my maternal side I received the gift of a passion for tailoring.
My great-grandparents owned two tailor shops. The first, managed by my great-grandmother Nina, specialized in making wedding dresses. The second was Sartoria Russotti, considered one of the most refined men's tailor shops in Taormina.
My great-grandfather Giuseppe Russotti and his son Angelo made bespoke suits, tailcoats, and tuxedos of extraordinary elegance for wealthy men from all over Europe. In an era when clothing represented much more than a simple garment, Sartoria Russotti was synonymous with artisanal excellence and attention to detail.
Growing up, I breathed that atmosphere of fine fabrics, attention to proportions, and respect for artisanal work. My grandfather Francesco Russotti and his brother Angelo were men of great elegance and taught me that authentic style does not need ostentation, but arises from harmony and quality.
When I played at being a fashion designer
Fashion entered my life very early.
As a child, I spent entire afternoons drawing clothes on paper. I imagined models, colors, and details, without knowing that one day that passion would become part of my work.
Next to me was my grandmother Ida Giovanna Longo.
I drew and she sewed.
With patience and skill, she transformed my sketches into real small clothes, giving shape to the dreams of a little girl who loved to invent worlds through fashion.
Even today, I consider those moments among my most precious childhood memories. They taught me that creativity can become reality and that ideas, when cultivated with love and determination, can turn into something concrete.
My mother's support
If today I continue to believe in my projects even in the most difficult moments, I also owe it to my mother.
Antonella Russotti instilled in me a sense of beauty, aesthetic sensitivity, and faith in creativity. She has always been one of the people who most encouraged me to follow my path, and even today she supports me in many activities related to the brand's communication and marketing.
Her constant presence represents an important part of the journey I am building.
The birth of my Technical Tailoring
Over time, I understood that my path belonged neither exclusively to the world of fashion nor solely to that of technical design.
It belonged to both.
From this awareness was born what I like to call my Technical Tailoring: an approach that combines the geometric precision inherited from my paternal family with the sartorial creativity belonging to my maternal family.
When I design a new tennis dress, I use the same attention to proportions, lines, and balances that I learned by observing my father. When I create a prototype, I carry on an artisanal tradition that spans generations.
Each garment is born from the encounter between technique and poetry, between rigor and emotion, between innovation and tradition.
Taormina, the sea, and Mount Etna: the soul of my collections
However, there is another great protagonist in this story: Sicily.
Taormina is my home.
The colors of the sea, the intense light of summer days, the energy of Mount Etna, and the extraordinary artisanal tradition of my land deeply influence my design approach.
Many of the color combinations in my collections come precisely from observing the landscape around me. The sunsets over the sea, the shades of the sky, the colors of the Mediterranean vegetation, and the strength of Sicilian nature become a continuous source of inspiration. The technical fabrics I use for summer collections also have a light grammage specifically designed for particularly hot climates like those in Sicily. To learn more, click here.
For this reason, every Laila Coslovich collection carries a fragment of Sicily.
A dream born in Sicily and aimed at the world
When I created Laila Coslovich, I didn't just want to make tennis dresses.
I wanted to create something that told a story.
The story of a family.
The story of a land.
The story of a woman who chose to combine her passions for tennis, fashion, and Italian craftsmanship.
My dream is to bring these dresses, born in the heart of Sicily, to the whole world. To showcase not just a product, but a vision of elegance, authenticity, sustainability, and belonging.
Because behind every Laila Coslovich dress there isn't just carefully sewn fabric.
There's a story.
And it's a story that continues to be written every day.
DISCOVER THE LAILA COSLOVICH TENNIS DRESS COLLECTION.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Laila Coslovich and what is her story? Laila Coslovi Longo is the founder and designer of the Laila Coslovich brand, born and raised in Taormina, Sicily. Passionate about tennis and fashion, she combined her maternal family's sartorial heritage — the Russotti Tailoring of Taormina — with the technical precision inherited from her surveyor father, giving life to a line of tailored Made in Italy tennis dresses.
Why is the brand called Laila Coslovich? Coslovich was the original surname of grandmother Emilia, born in Istria and moved to Sicily with Laila's paternal grandfather towards the end of the Second World War. During the Fascist period, the surname was Italianized. By choosing this name for the brand, Laila wanted to reclaim and honor that part of her family identity. The suffix "-ich", in Slavic languages, recalls the meaning of "daughter of".
Where are Laila Coslovich tennis dresses created? The dresses are born in Sicily, in Taormina, where Laila designs each collection on the family drawing table. The colors of the Mediterranean, the light of Etna, and the Sicilian artisanal tradition are a continuous source of inspiration for each garment.
What is the philosophy behind the Laila Coslovich brand? The brand is born from the encounter between technique and poetry: the geometric precision of design and artisanal sartorial creativity. Each tennis dress is designed for women who want to feel elegant, feminine, and unique on the court, without sacrificing the quality and sustainability of Made in Italy.