Strelli was born in 1946 in
Kinshasa,
Belgian Congo the son of
Italian and
Greek Jews from the island of
Rhodes who had migrated there in the early 20th century. The Congo was at that time
Belgium's great colonial possession and non-
African communities included
Greeks and
Sephardic-
Jews who had fled political unrest in the
Balkans. After Congolese Independence, Strelli's family ended up in
Belgium where Olivier had studied textile design in
Tournai. Based in
Brussels from 1974, he created a line of
off-the-peg male fashions and later opened his own boutique. His first full-line collection was shown in the
Paris season of 1980. Famous clients since have included the
Rolling Stones,
Brigitte Bardot,
Stevie Wonder and several members of the Belgian royal family. The yellow coat worn by
Queen Paola during the coronation of her husband
King Albert II in 1993 was a Strelli original. He has also designed uniforms for Belgian railway staff and for air hostesses of the now-defunct Belgian national airline
Sabena. ==External links==