“I really think we are onto something at Brioni. This is a luxury which is not empty.” Norbert Stumpfl’s first lookbook image in this expanded Brioni women’s collection finely illustrated the something that Brioni is onto: a gorgeously cut tuxedo beneath which was layered a top made by subtracting the shoulders and sleeves from a tailored jacket.
Afforded by Brioni owner Kering Group the time to take a considered approach that has included consulting with Gigliola Savini Perrone, daughter of the house co-founder Gaetano Savini, Stumpfl’s vision for this house’s womenswear has developed from cautious caterpillar to increasingly confident chrysalis. Its identity is shaped by Brioni’s 80-year heritage of excellence in masculine tailoring: however what’s crucial to its potential is that while Brioni’s masculine DNA defines its process, it does not dictate this product.
Thus Brioni’s highly evolved menswear catalogue of canonical cuts, materials, and methods were taken as raw materials before being applied to shaping garments for women. A safari suit was transformed by lengthening the shirt into a dress and transforming the shorts into pants. Pencil skirts in pale fil coupe of cashmere were given movement-affording range by applying the same single vent normally cut into the back of a men’s jacket into the front of the garment. A version of that opening tuxedo top was flipped into an evening dress by switching it from black to white, cutting it full length, and hand-applied black floral embellishments.
There were plenty of tailored jackets cut with the hand-hewn precision and ease that you would absolutely expect here. However both their architecture and length were recast by application to a block crafted for the shape of their destined wearers. Furthermore the jackets were sometimes accessorized with a belt—something near sacrilegious in the masculine sphere of tailoring—and layered over garments deracinated from shirts to blouses by the raglan style shoulder shapes and the dis-imposition of collars.
“She doesn’t care about being known for wearing any particular brand,” said Stumpfl when asked to profile the female client for whom he and his teams are manifesting these clothes. “She just wants her clothes to work beautifully in order to let her work.” In this, at least, Brioni’s womenswear and menswear are in harmony. Stumpfl’s opening definition of the house’s luxury as “not empty” seemed on the money: this cosmopolitan not cosplay approach to apex dressing seems full of potential.
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