He called me “Baby” and I
called him “Bear” and we laughed….

Stefano Ricci is the founder and creator of one of the most important  Italian luxury brand.

“He would come to me in the most incredible places, at the most incredible moments and say: What are you doing, Bambino?… Maybe he was outside the house waiting for me… Come down he would say!… Maybe it was midnight and I would say: “Monty, welcome, what are you doing this time?” and he would say: “I’m in Florence, I thought of you and I came to visit you”. We would sit there and talk… at my house.… Then there was an evolution, he started taking pictures for some Mercedes House organs… Cartier and I would say to him: “Monty, are you okay there… up with them?” Sometimes he would say to me: “Mmhh…. I mean, I was better down there with you!”. This relationship was nice….. we saw each other at all the Pitti but also during the year and, if I was in Milan, he would come to visit me. I was lucky and had the courage to manage that relationship with Him. Then we met again on many occasions, he introduced me to one of my dearest friends in an absolute sense: IonTiriac.

“Monty is a man…. who leaves a mark on your life”

“He left signs that are equivalent to his children and the memory of those signs and even today the positive effects of those signs remain in the history of luxury….. let’s say it and also of photography”…..and I always liked this a lot about Monty! …….He would come to me with the craziest ideas and sometimes I would say: “but I do another job! I don’t do that job!” and Monty would reply “yes but you’re intelligent!” and I would reply “that’s where you’re wrong I’m not intelligent so I can’t” …..and he “ah ah kid!!!!”.

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