|Objects| E arlier this
|Objects| E arlier this year the fashion press – inspired largely by the global phenomenon of the HBO series Succession and its wardrobe department stuffed with Zegna suits, Loro Piana sweaters and Brunello Cucinelli gilets – coined “quiet luxury” as a trend. It was being touted as the tonal, napa leather, shearling-trimmed antithesis to all the Gen Z-generated noise in fashion. Its nadir was a much-shared newspaper story “How to Get the Quiet Luxury Look”, but for fast-fashion prices. It missed the point of artisanal handmade clothing entirely, while engaging in inverse snobbery and underscoring the ridiculousness of writing about “trends”. Quiet luxury is simply the way many men have been dressing in Italy for decades. It’s a way of life and its appeal is obvious – it is serious, and sensual. Notwithstanding the switch in gear between summer and winter weights, no serious man changes the way they dress at a rapid pace. He buys a beautiful piece with an eye to it lasting years. “Luxury, to me, has always been quiet,” says Brioni’s creative director, Norbert Stumpfl. “It might be a personal, intimate luxury that you can’t see immediately but you can feel it yourself from the fabric. And it will be something that looks good five years from now. Luxury is looking to traditional techniques, but also future techniques [that] make sense for the planet.” Italian menswear is as much to do with the mills of a house and its handling of textiles as it is pattern cutting. Many have their own (Brunello Cucinelli owns a whole town, Solomeo, which incorporates his production facilities), while others patronise just one or two to be assured of something exclusive. It’s not as simple as ordering from a swatchbook. Brioni repeatedly uses a “double splittable” technique – a five-thread system weaving two fabrics together before the tailor cuts them open with a scalpel. The look is distinctive, offering the smoothest, most minimal finish at each hem. “We also use a textural alpaca and a lot of cashmere,” says Stumpfl. “When you touch anything, it has to create emotion.” Understatement is key to the sotto voce style of Italian menswear. “Rigid, minimalist codes characterise our brand,” says Antonio De Matteis, CEO of Kiton, and the new president of the influential trade fair Pitti Immagine. “We use the highest quality of materials, and in 2008, the company purchased the Carlo Barbera mill, to accelerate experimentation and innovation. Among the fabrics that characterise our collections is vicuña, the most precious, sought-after yarn in the world.” Kiton, like Loro Piana (which has seen annual sales up 17 per cent) is flourishing. Last year it hit a new record, with growth of 25 per cent. It’s intriguing to see within those figures how quiet luxury is being embraced globally, or not. The biggest growth is in Europe, while logo-hungry Asia remains in the single digits. In a recent interview with The Business of the Fashion, Basile Khadiry, chief editor of L’Étiquette, points to North American retailers buying in 43 per cent fewer logoadorned garments, but with a rise of eight per cent in Asia. Increasingly, in Europe and the US, the designer logo is a target of mockery. “This stuff is tat, isn’t it? It is a naïf ’s idea of glamour,” wrote Janan Ganesh damningly in the Financial Times this June. Wither the bold-type branded T-shirt that announces its price tag along with its maker. It would be impossible to document the history of quiet luxury without mentioning Giorgio Armani, who launched his eponymous brand in 1975 and reinvented tailoring for a new generation. His allgreige, soft-shouldered approach caught the imagination of the fashion world as much as any of the radical Japanese who were coming out of Tokyo at the same time. His work hung next to Yohji Yamamoto, Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier at Charivari in New York when all were seen as deeply avant-garde by the fashion press, and the now long-defunct store was seen as a barometer of style. It was patronised by rock stars and artists. When Armani’s tailoring dominated the screen 26 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
Brunello Cucinelli double half-breasted cashmere coat; English rib V-neck cashmere gilet; wool-flannel leisure-fit trousers; leather belt with metal buckle; suede Derby shoes CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 27
