Cover story

WORDS EDWINA INGS-CHAMBERS

Flicking through archive photographs of Brioni’s dedicated clients is like celebrityspotting target practice. There’s a cigaretteholding Clark Gable being measured for a jacket. There’s Victor Mature bearing a dazzling smile and sunglasses while trying on the perfect white shirt. Or take Peter Fonda, standing ramrod straight for a suit fitting or another, of John Wayne looking relaxed, happy and decidedly uncowboyish in a perfectly-fitting jacket. Then there’s none other than Richard Burton, eyes locked on Liz, on a night out during the filming of Cleopatra and perfectly encased in an evening suit. And my-oh-my, wasn’t Peter Sellers sleek in a Brioni light-coloured astrakhan coat.

One could continue the Brioni-powered name-dropping but the point is clear: from the day this house of sartorial perfectionism was founded in 1945, its tailoring was sought by those who understood the true meaning of excellence.

‘The house style cannot be categorized only as “classic”, “sartorial”, “Italian”,’ says Andrea Perrone, one of the brand’s three coCEOs. ‘Much of what it does transcends fashion and achieves what can be described as contemporary and elegant Brioni style.’ A Brioni suit, he continues, represents the pinnacle of men’s classic elegance with a modern, sensual and contemporary touch, ‘a special blend of technique and experience, research and style, produced in the best fabrics with sophisticated detailing. A tradition long favoured by the powerful international elite.’

Fitting, then, that polo and Brioni should be well matched. The historic link between the two was established in the early decades of the 1900s: ‘A Tourist Board poster for the Brioni Islands dating back to 1937 aptly represents the bond between Brioni and the exclusive Italian island resort where polo was played for the first time ever in Italy in 1924,’ recounts Perrone. ‘It was this poster, based on an earlier epoch of European aristocracy, grandeur and café society, that inspired the name and essence of the Brioni brand as a luxury product for the elite.’

It was the polo player featured in that original poster’s foreground that has since been used as a recurring motif since the Sartoria Brioni was first established, and it is still found on the lining of Brioni jackets today.

The sport of polo reflects the luxury brand’s values, says Perrone. ‘This noble and versatile sporting discipline with a tradition dating back many centuries inspired the Brioni brand –which has come to represent elegance and refinement to sophisticated international consumers who are today reappraising a sport deeply rooted in tradition and reserved to a select few.’

In 2004 Brioni revived the tradition of polo on the Brioni Island by organising the Brioni Classic Tournament. The event, Perrone says, brought together ‘elegance, passion, dynamism and skill, horsemanship and courage – values that harmonise perfectly with the Brioni brand and the history of the company.’

The fashion house has also participated in the last two Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow tournaments in St Moritz – even winning the cup this year with a Brioni team led by 9-goaler Eduardo Novillo Astrada. The next team will be announced in the fall, which Guy Schwarzenbach, the 24-year-old son of the president of the St Moritz Polo Club, will be a part of.

In St Moritz next January Brioni will also launch its new capsule polo collection. Polo and Brioni remain deeply connected, and it

is a link the firm cares about, since many of its clients are also polo enthusiasts. Created for polo players and fans, the style and fabrics of the new collection will adapt to the needs of the game but also to Brioni’s stylish tradition. ‘Brioni and polo have proud traditions that continue generation after generation,’ says Perrone. ‘It is this Brioni uniqueness which has taken this exclusive brand from its origins in the poloplaying world of the 1920s and 30s to its global 21st century elite.’

Of course, mallet swinging isn’t all there is to Brioni. For many, the name is synonymous with James Bond. The fashion house has been the official dresser of the British film character since Pierce Brosnan reprised the role with GoldenEye. ‘When Lindy Hemming became costume designer for the James Bond movies, she broke with tradition in selecting his suits,’ recalls Perrone. ‘For over 30 years Agent 007 wore Londontailored suits, but she decided that his look should be “contemporary classic”. And she turned to Brioni. She clearly felt that we could provide the sartorial excellence and production expertise she was looking for. Of course, we were extremely flattered to dress such an icon of style and glamour. A British hero dressed by an Italian fashion house.’

If this all sounds a trifle eulogistic, consider that the company is still familyowned, with two of the three CEOs direct descendents of the original founders, Nazareno Fonticoli and Gaetano Savini. Perrone, co-CEO in charge of business development, is the grandchild of Savini, while Antonella de Simone, director of communications and marketing, is the grand-daughter of Fonticoli. The third CEO, Antonio Bianchini, who is not a family member, looks after the financial side.

Excellence and luxury were always the Brioni credo, as set by founders Fonticoli and Savini, who sought to create the best of Italian tailoring and style. When they met, Fonticoli was already an expert tailor working in his native town of Penne, while Savini had a knack for business and marketing. Together they set out to take menswear to a higher level.

The heart of the company has remained firmly in Italian tailoring. A quarter of the brand’s custom is made-to-measure suiting and only its Rome and Milan stores have dedicated ateliers. They will proudly tell you that there are 220 stages to making a jacket, involving 200 professionals and taking 22 hours –a suit is not just a suit. Almost all of the firm’s ready-to-wear and made-to-

measure suits are hand-made with approximately 5,000 stitches. Machines are only used for straight seams that do not require elaborate techniques.

The brand has always sought to innovate. Brioni was one of the first men’s companies invited to show its designs in 1952 at a fashion show at Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The historic show so impressed American department store buyers that another followed in New York which prompted Life magazine to dub Brioni the ‘men’s Dior’.

Perrone explains how Brioni had already made an impact at the time by eroding the formal dress codes of Savile Row and introducing softer cuts and fabrics, along with less rigid use of colour, an emphasis on comfort, greater versatility and a wider choice. It’s a tradition of perfecting its sartorial techniques that the brand maintains to respond to the needs of its worldly clientele.

The brand also takes credit for the concept of the ‘total look’. Perrone explains: ‘Brioni launched the “total look” from the very outset. The first Brioni shops were very innovative for the times: everything from coats to the smallest accessories could be bought there and in stocking such a wide range of exclusive goods, Brioni definitely created what, many years later, was to become known as the total look.’

Like other luxury firms such as Bottega Veneta, Brioni also invests in the skills that have formed the basis of the house to ensure they continue into the future. In 1985 it founded the Scuola Superiore di Sartoria to teach tailoring, and most recently, the company has been steadily growing due to the rising demand for hand-made tailoring.

These days Brioni is expanding around the world. Its first Indian boutique opened in Mumbai in March, and it recently opened in St Petersburg, Kiev and Ekaterinburg in Russia. Future plans include a new Wall Street boutique and new stores in the main emerging markets in Asia along the ‘New Silk Road’. Territory that isn’t new, however, is women’s wear, which currently makes up 10 per cent of the company’s turnover. ‘Brioni has always dressed women,’ says Perrone. ‘Since its early days in the fifties, famous actresses such as Ava Gardner, Anna Magnani and other famous socialites have been long-time customers of the Brioni women’s collection. Today there is growing demand for beautifully-made clothing from a sophisticated clientele around the world.

Brioni’s slogan is ‘To Be One of a Kind’. Or put another way: for tailoring excellence, Brioni is kind of The One.

Edwina Ings-Chambers is deputy fashion editor of the Financial Times

1 The first menswear runway show, at Pitti, Florence in 1952 2 Vintage Brioni poster 3 Eduardo Novillo Estrada of the Brioni team is fitted by a master tailor at the London store 4 Lady Mountbatten with the Malta team 5 Founders Nazareno Fonticoli and Gaetano Savini