The King of Jeans, Elio Fiorucci, has died aged 80

Founder of iconic denim brand Fiorucci, Elio Fiorucci, has died today at his home in Milan.

Dubbed the King of Jeans, Fiorucci pioneered the current wave of designer denim with the launch of his namesake label in 1967.

With its provocative advertising campaigns and early adoption of Lycra, the brand attained cult status for its figure-hugging designs and sexually liberated ethos.

Collaborations with Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and Naomi Campbell helped cement its position as the denim brand of the '70s and '80s, and Fiorucci's stores became almost as legendary as the jeans themselves, acting as a melting pot of fashion, art and culture.

The New York outpost counted Jackie Onassis, Lauren Bacall, Cher and Gloria Vanderbilt as customers and served as the venue for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine launch party.

It also hosted a performance by a then-little-known artist called Madonna, a book signing by Truman Capote and the first exhibition of pop artist Keith Haring.

In its prime, the brand had strong ties to the New York club scene, and the store on East 59th Street was dubbed "daytime Studio 54" due to its reputation as a haunt for Manhattan's 'it' pack.

''When I was 15, instead of going to sleep-away camp I spent the whole summer hanging out in the store,'' designer Marc Jacobs once told the New York Times. 

While Elio Fiorucci's ties with his brand were tainted by legal proceedings in later years (and eventually severed), his legacy as a pop culture influencer - and the man who changed denim forvever - will live on.