The Tamesis
Brioni is entering a new phase after the departure of designer Norbert Stumpfl, who has accounted for almost 10% of the brand’s 80-year history in December last year. Tommaso Angeli is the face of this season’s static collection, not the creative director. The designer’s departure comes shortly after he was promoted to chief product officer after four years as global marketing director. Brunello Cucinelli veteran is joined by Flavio Cerbone, who joined Kering’s menswear label last April after more than a decade at Prada Group. Neither man gave any hint that Brioni could expect new design expert creative leadership to succeed Stumpfl.
“We wanted to talk about real elegance, something to do with Roman style, Roman insouciance, chicness, imperfection,” Angeli said. The collection has been carefully curated for the photographs and includes a number of attractive pieces, including a long-haired shearling version of Brioni’s Vagabond outerwear shirt, first advertised in 1950, and a very fine bespoke horsehair jacket. Representatives from the brand emphasized the time they put into the manufacturing process: It takes a full day to sew the lapels, and several months to apply sequins to the jacket’s fabric.
Brioni employs hundreds of tailoring experts at its Penne studio and runs a school to ensure new recruitment channels for the company and other tailoring businesses across Italy. This wealth of expertise, along with the price tags of its garments, means that the tailoring expertise and attention to detail highlighted in this presentation should almost be taken for granted.
The format of the presentation also emphasized Brioni’s history of exporting its Roman tailoring and “sportswear” (in the last century’s sense) from the mid-1950s through trunk shows for customers. Brioni’s most transformative innovation – a glorious moment of entrepreneurial spirit – was what is widely regarded as the first-ever men’s fashion show in Florence in 1952. The show, modeled by the debonair Brioni employee Angelo Vittucci, sparked a thirst for Roman tailoring among the American buyers in town, who were mainly looking for women’s clothing. This sparked international demand, prompting Brioni to open Studio Penne. Rekindling this desire by creating a new identity for Brioni is a fascinating challenge facing the company’s latest crop of managers.
