Romeo Gigli designer quits just before Milan shows

MILAN (Reuters Life!) - Gentucca Bini has quit as the designer at Italian fashion house Romeo Gigli, she said on Wednesday, throwing uncertainty over the brand little more than a week before the womenswear shows start in Milan.

"At this moment it was the best thing to do, to finish the relationship. I'm very satisfied with my work," Bini told Reuters by telephone.

"I will say something shortly about my future," she added. "Nothing is certain at the moment but I have some proposals that I am weighing."

Bini worked as artistic director for the brand for two years and said in a statement she had boosted its value.

Romeo Gigli is owned by Italian company Mood Srl, which had no immediate comment.

Bini said her collection for the womenswear shows -- which run from September 20 for a week in Milan -- had already been completed but could not say if the company would use it.

"I know what I made but I don't know what they will show," she said. "It was inspired by origami, I played a lot with volumes and I played a lot with contrasting plain and pattern," she added.

Bini regularly brought a light-hearted, idiosyncratic touch to her designs for Gigli, with models regularly dancing and twirling down the catwalk and blowing kisses at the audience.

Her designs were often loose-fitting, baggy and more arts student than her Milan competitors such as Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani.

(Reporting by Jo Winterbottom, editing by Paul Casciato)