Cortina d’Ampezzo isn’t just a ski town. For decades it has been la dolce vita on ice, with snow, slopes, and Champagne in hand. Long before technical parkas and Gore-Tex shells, this Dolomite jewel was where real style met serious snow. A playground for European aristocracy and global tastemakers from the 1920s onward, Cortina became the winter equivalent of Capri, Marbella and Monte Carlo — only colder and furrier.
By the 1956 Winter Olympics, the first to reach a global television audience, the slopes were already a celebrity magnet. Film icons and social royalty moved through the mountains like it was a winter runway. Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn appeared in photographs, while Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton helped cement Cortina’s legendary après-ski scene.
“They Are Wearing” Cortina, 1970s. Fairchild Archive/WWD
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The 1970s sealed the fantasy. Picture Slim Aarons style moments come to life: women in fur-trimmed coats and oversize sunglasses, carrying Louis Vuitton bags in every shape and style — the ultimate must-have on the slopes — while colorful ski ensembles from brands like Ellesse and Fusalp, iconic in European ski style, turned every lift line into a scene. And men didn’t lag behind, wearing fur coats, boots, and equally vibrant ski outfits that oftentimes outshone the women. As the sun went down, après ski quickly evolved into an all-out party moment, with dancing, drinking and sunbathing in full force.
“They Are Wearing” Cortina, 1970s. Fairchild Archive/WWD
Corso Italia, Cortina’s main street and the heart of the town, turned into a who’s who after a powder day. Skiers and visitors paraded between cafés, boutiques and hotel terraces, showing off that fashion was never incidental.
WWD was there to capture it all. The archival photos here show the street style from the era: fur coats, statement boots, and endless glamour in real-world après-ski life. People came to ski, yes, but also to be seen skiing and fashionably well doing so.
In Cortina, la dolce vita never takes a season off.
