Yeshica Indra
Fashion business 2.2 Comix Essay
“When a suit takes 186 steps and about 18 hours to be crafted, you know it's going to fit right.”
THE ADRIATIC ISLANDS WITH ITS HEAVENLY ARCHIPELAGO FACING THE ISTRIAN COAST WAS ONCE A LUXURY DESTINATION BY THE EUROPEAN ARISTOCRATS WHO IN THE EARLY 1900S SOUGHT AN EXCLUSIVE DESTINATION TO GO HORSEBACK RIDING, GOLF AND POLO. IT WAS THIS RESORT ISLAND THAT BECAME THE ICON OF A SMALL ROMAN TAILOR SHOP THAT WOULD LEAVE MENSWEAR TO NEVER BE THE SAME. After the traumatic Second World War in 1945, a few years after the Canali brothers set up their own tailoring workshop – An Abruzzo-born master tailor, Nazareno Fonticoli and charismatic entrepreneur, Gaetano Savini began to shape the dream of Italian’s men high fashion. These two avant-garde men left their jobs at a gentlemen’s boutique on Via del Corso to set their shared vision of making the most of the widespread yearning for post-war hope and optimism. In nearby Via Barberini, they set up their own elegant store complete with a tailoring workshop that they ambitiously named Brioni that is the playground for the rich and famous that represented life before war and what it could be again. The Italians knew Brioni was the epitome of the best life had to offer and that is what the two men wanted their costumers to think when they hear their label name. The two men realized that they had to compete in a very competitive market and to be successful they had to be very different from all the fashion houses by being the best in men’s tailoring. They are one of the few menswear houses that truly do a bespoke. Bespoke is totally different from made-to-measure. According to Brioni’s ex-chairman, Umberto Angeloni, "Bespoke is where the suit is made from your measurements exclusively, from scratch. We still do this, in Milan and Rome. Everyone now says they do bespoke, but what they mean is made-to-measure. That is where an existing suit design is adapted to your shape". Completely hand-tailored suit was the rule with Brioni. There are more than 5 thousand different fabrics to choose from. Built around 25 thousand different combinations, they are able to create a total customized look. Not only Brioni customized their suits to an individual's body proportions and taste, but also even to their professions, discreet and often unspoken needs. Additional features like secret pockets, special flower buttonholes along and flawless lifelong service distinguish this house from all the others in the field. Dozens of people come together to create a Brioni suit. There is no space for error as each people are a specialist in their individual fields: design, stitching, ironing, and testing. Every detail is carefully worked on with a ritual that was passed
from one generation to the next. Each thread, buttonholes and lapels are always in the right place. Each garment is unique and not a millimeter removed from how and where they should be. But at the end of the war, there were very few people who could afford to buy designer clothes and as a result they have to appeal to a much larger market to make a name for themselves. The Americans were the ones with the money and they were the ones that Brioni set out to conquer. Savini who holds the marketing end of the partnership had connections and strategies that appealed to the upper crust of the society. So while Fonticoli was the one doing most of the hands on work, Savini brought Brioni to a larger audience. In 1952 in Florence, he co-staged the world’s first men’s tailored clothing show, showing 40 of the firm’s suits, plus accessories including handmade shoes that were nicknamed ‘foot gloves’. As part of the collection, Brioni debuted a tuxedo in black shantung silk, a material that before then was only used for the inner linings of coats. Eager American buyers snapped up that particular coat proving the success of the complimentary partnership between the two men. Fonticoli and Savini see that the London cut were too formal, so they introduced a touch of color in the collections and different fittings. Big-framed men gained a certain sophisticated charm only by Brioni’s slim and discreet "Columnar" silhouette. Cut radically slim about the waist with a long, flattering drape coupled with narrow, fitted shoulders, meant that Brioni could experiment daringly in terms of fabrics and colors, using silks and brocades in menswear for the first time. The New York Times called a “postgraduate version of the ‘Ivy Leaguer’” look with its narrow and tapered silhouette. This led to the elegant feel and luxury that has remained the trademark of a contemporary Brioni suit. This Brioni’s ‘Roman Style’, represented an extravagant of masculine elegance was kind of the male version of Christian Dior’s 1947 Parisian ‘New Look’. So on 1957, Brioni added a touch of color to formalwear: the Hess collection. Their double-breasted coats, winter coats or hunting coats in bold shades of red, yellow and green, were completely radical to the somber grey palette that symbolized the depressed economical atmosphere of wartime Europe. By the mid-1950s, Via Barberini had become men’s high fashion. Americans flocked to the Rome, as it became the popular vacation spot for the wealthy. Brioni became the chosen wardrobe that attracted the attention high-profile Hollywood actors. Cary Grant, Clark Gable and John Wayne, naming a few – became faithful customers and highly visible
spokesmen for Brioni. As a result, without the need or desire to advertise, demand increased so much by word of mouth that by 1959, the workshop located above the lavish Via Barberini store had become not enough to handling orders with its 90 employees. So the decision was made to relocate production to Penne Tailoring District, a small town in Abruzzo. Brioni started the world’s first factory-sized sartorial workshops where Fonticoli personally convinced enough local craftsmen of Brioni’s revolutionary ‘serial production’ concept. Which simply meant that individual tailors handsew jackets and trousers before adding the finishing touches by machine. The same level of handiwork was maintained for each suit, ready-to-wear or made-to-measure but in a much shorter time, so that the company was able to complete vast orders. While Fonticoli consolidated the company’s tailors at the Penne factory, Savini continued to take Brioni on the road. A pro at marketing and social networking, Savini toured Brioni throughout America. In 1952, putting on shows in Atlanta, Boston, Virginia, Minnesota, Chicago and New York he heavily promoted the firm’s innovative ‘Columnar Look’. Savini then became the darling of the fashion media and the unofficial spokesman for Italians menswear. The American press corps championed him as the “Caesar of Style”, “King of Fashion and “Men’s Dior”. One example of Savini’s cutting edge methods is in 1964, he famously presented a menswear show at New York’s historic Waldorf-Astoria hotel, flooding the stage with ankle-deep water as models lounge at a pretend cocktail party. In April 1957, invited by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Commerce, Brioni mounted a fashion show at the prestigious Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan. That Park Lane show initiated a uproar for Continental styling in the United States, began the domination of the Italians over the English in menswear. It also created the Peacock Revolution of the '60s and '70s, when men started opening their wardrobes to more colors and new combination of color-ways and accessories. In 1960s, Savini and Fonticoli made their mark as the world’s ambassadors of Italian sartorial excellence. Building a strong company identity, they keep ahead of the new fashion and revolutions by radical approaches. In London 1959, they showcased butter-coloured buckskin coats, in 1961 reversible astrakhan coats and checked cloaks, in 1970 a space-age, Futurist-inspired green and beige outfit. Brioni with increasing success embrace this knowledge and began offering a “total look” enhanced with men’s
"But why shouldn't men be more colorful? Why can't a man be elegant without being either dull or foppish? That's what we're interested in. Why, for example, couldn't a man wear a suit of silk shantung, and why couldn't it be in a flattering pastel shade, or rich tobacco brown? Or perhaps a cream-andchocolate minicheckhoundstooth business suits in a super-lightweight tropical worsted? Why not? - Savini
accessories by giving the tie its own line. Brioni also has a fragrance line that started with “Good Luck” that was launched a year after the Hess collection to celebrate the spirit of the times. Brioni’s other men’s grooming products included “Brionissimo” men’s fragrance, “Brioni” after-shave in limited editions. The fragrance comes in bottles made in glass of superior quality nearing the brilliance of crystal produced by master glassblowers in Empoli presented in a beautiful leather case made entirely by hand with the finest Italian leather that’s also used by Brioni for its leather good lines. The following decade, the Nazareno Fonticoli Scuola Superiore di Sartoria tailoring school opened in 1985. Teaching the ancient sartorial skill to a new generation. The course was broken down into a 4-year apprenticeship before a tailor are allowed to handle actual fabric for clients, and it would take two years of honing before a seamstress is allowed to punch a buttonhole. And it is rumored that students must be able to create a suit blindfolded. The 220 phases needed to produce a Brioni garment became a cultural code. In 1990 when Umberto Angeloni took over as Chief Executive Officer an expansion plan was started. Shops opening in locations such as Mumbai, St. Petersburg, and Baku and the Penne factory enlarged to hold 700 employees. Purchasing the Burini and Ciceri shirt factories and Sforza leather-goods shop, Brioni expanded to new products and materials. In addition, a world of sportswear was established. 1955 marked the opening of the New York boutique and publication of the book Brioni, fifty years of style – crowning half century of extraordinary work. Also 1995, Angeloni made the arrangement for Brioni suits to be James Bond’s tuxedo of choice, lasting 10 years up until the 2006’s Casino Royale. In 2001, Angeloni introduced a womenswear line. The line is based with the same tailored look that a lady accompanying a Brioni man is likely to wear. And while doing so, keeping in mind its own long heritage of impeccable quality. But it never had the cachet of the Brioni men's suit, worn by presidents, moguls, celebrities and figures from Nelson Mandela to James Bond. Brioni is all about a sense of ageless style. The house does not follow the frantic passage of trends supported by other brands, because in the two months, several fittings and the minimum of 185 steps it takes to make a suit, the age of a fashion in the fashion world is almost over. A typical Brioni handmade suit would go through at least 30-35 hours of work. 10 hours of sewing by hand, 18 hours of craftsmanship for buttons and so on and 42 stages of ironing. This is why
Lindy Hemming, the costume designer for Bond throughout this period, says of the attitude and ethics of the house of Brioni: “They were absolutely open to any sort of idea. They have a lifetime of making clothes for presidents and politicians, and they don't have that thing that they can't change what is going on. Whether it be 13 inside pockets, or one jacket with no vents and another that needs to open down the back".
Brioni is never out of fashion, serving only an exclusive 25 thousand elite clientele such as Kofi Annan, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Richard Gere. Even New York crime boss of the Gambino crime family John Gotti earned the nickname Dapper Don after his extensive wardrobe of custom Brioni suits. As of January 2007, Brioni owned 25 boutiques, a further 13 franchised stores. Seven of the boutiques are in the United States. Brioni's New York showrooms are located on 52nd Street and 57th Street in Manhattan. In the USA Brioni garments can be purchased at high-end department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Wilkes Bashford and Neiman Marcus. Universally recognized as the most prestigious luxury brand in the men’s fashion, Brioni's 900 tailors create 200 models in different styles and sizes every year. An off the peg suit costs about 5 thousand dollar at the entry-level; and most customtailored suits range from six to forty-six thousand dollars. As of February of 2009, Brioni is currently offering a 43 thousand dollar genuine white gold stitched pinstripe suit made of the some of the world's most rare fabrics including the astronomically high-priced wool of the vicuùa, a rare South American relative of the llama since all Brioni clothing is made by hand, they are able to manipulate the softest, lightest fabrics available, even luxurious cloths that could never be used for machine-made clothing.
The Brioni Polo Club was the very first Italian polo club, established in 1924. The polo player on the poster for the Brioni Islands has always been featured on the lining of the jackets. Brioni to re-propose the polo theme as a symbol of elegance in the fashion and in the regions in which it has played a major role. The fashion house has organized three Brioni Polo Classic competitions and participated in the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow in St Moritz. It has also created a small polo collection, for both players and fans of the sport, gentlemen and experts who share a common love of this unrivalled sport.
Known for its ultimate quality and personal service, style, perfection of cut and fine detailing, Brioni's commitment to making fine hand-tailored men continues. While it is said that a man need not spend a lot to look like a million bucks, the truth is it helps. A suit from Brioni represents the good life, suave charm, poise, individuality and more.
By Yeshica Indra Fashion Business 2.2 Brioni came together with Four Seasons hotel in Milan to create a suite located on their top floor. A short distance from the Milanese headquarters, it is the only hotel in the group in the entire world to offer a suite with a unique design. Created by Brioni architects and interior designers for guests. It was designed to convey the feeling of a stay in a private home rather than a hotel room.
As a newly-‐liberated Rome collected itself in 1945 after the traumatic experience of Mussolini’s Fascism, the Second World War and the Eternal City’s occupation by the Nazis, two avant-‐garde sartorialists – an Abruzzi-‐born master tailor, Narazreno Fonticoli, and charismatic salesman, Gaetano Savini – left their jobs at a gentlemen’s boutique on Via del Corso to set up their own elegant store, complete with tailoring workshop in nearby Via Barberini. As it transpired menswear would never be the same. Ambitiously calling the fashion house Brioni, after the Adriatic islands of the same name favored as a luxury destination by European aristocrats, the entrepreneurs shared a vision to capitalize on the ever-‐pervasive hunger for post-‐war hope and optimism. Their agents of change were exquisitely hand-‐tailored garments – double-‐breasted coats, winter coats, hunting coats – in bold, extroverted hues of red, yellow and green, tones antithetical to the one-‐dimensional and somber grey palette that epitomized the depressed, frugal atmosphere of wartime Europe. Brioni’s suiting, cut radically slim about the waist with a long, flattering drape coupled with narrow, fitted shoulders, propelled men onto the streets of Rome with a reclaimed, renewed pride and a sense of peacockery. ‘Brioni Roman Style’, as it came to be known, represented an extravagant and idiosyncratic sally forth in the arena of masculine elegance – the male yang to the feminine ying of Christian Dior’s 1947 Parisian ‘New Look’. Gaetano Savini, switched on to the benefits of taking Brioni to a larger audience, co-‐ staged the world’s first men’s tailored clothing show in 1952 in Florence, showcasing 40 of the firm’s suits, plus accessories including handmade shoes that were nicknamed ‘foot gloves’. It was an auspicious moment. As part of the collection, Brioni debuted a tuxedo in black shantung silk, a material until then only used for the inner linings of coats, that was snapped up by eager American buyers. The world’s enduring love affair with the Brioni tuxedo was kindled, which included a 10-‐ year stint as James Bond’s tuxedo of choice, lasting from 1995 up until 2006’s Casino Royale (a certain T. Ford has the current contract). By the mid-‐1950s, Via Barberini had become the Mecca for men’s high fashion. Americans, including high-‐profile Hollywood actors – Cary Grant, Clark Gable and John Wayne, to name but a few – flocked to the Rome atelier in droves. Demand increased so much that by 1959, the Barberini workshop, situated above the opulent store and employing some 90 people, had become insufficient to cope with the orders, and the decision was made to relocate production to Penne, a small town in Abruzzo with a long and distinguished history of tailoring. Here Brioni would initiate the world’s first factory-‐sized sartorial workshops. This wasn’t a straightforward proposition. Local Abruzzo tailors, railings against what they saw as the death knell of the centuries –old methods of hand-‐tailoring, were skeptical. But Fontcoli, like Salvatore Ferragamo (another maestro artisan who’d skillfully converted the art of bespoke shoemaking to a semi-‐industrial process) personally convinced enough local craftsmen of the integrity of Brioni’s revolutionary ‘serial production’ concept, which meant, in most simple terms, individual tailors working on components of the suit concurrently with others doing
the same. The same level of handiwork was retained for each suit, be it ready-‐to-‐ wear or made-‐to-‐measure – Brioni’s bespoke suits then, as now, were the result of a single tailor’s toil – but the suit was completed in a much shorter period of time, so that the company was able to fill vast orders. Ciro Giuliano, the respected Roman tailor, paid Brioni the ultimate compliment when he visited the Penne factory: “You have set up what I always dreamed of doing,” he stated. As Fonticoli consolidated the company’s tailors at the Penne factory, Savini, the ultimate showman, continued to take Brioni on the road. A magician at marketing and public relations, Savini had toured Brioni throughout America and in the mid 1950s, putting on shows in Atlanta, Boston, Virginia, Minnesota, Chicago and New York, heavily promoting the firm’s innovative ‘ Columnar Look’; one that The New York Times called a “postgraduate version of the ‘Ivy Leaguer’” look with its narrow and tapered silhouette. Fielding’s Travel Guide noted, “If you want to look classic, Savini and Fonticoli will make you appear as opulent and powerful as the president of Chase Manhattan Bank!” Savini, a magnetic, larger-‐than-‐life character, subsequently became the darling of the fashion media and the unofficial spokesman for Italians menswear. The American press corps championed him as the “Caesar of Style”, “King of Fashion and “Men’s Dior”. Savini’s marketing methods were nothing short of cutting edge, even by today’s standards. To note one example, in 1964, he famously presented a menswear show at New York’s historic Waldorf-‐Astoria hotel, flooding the stage with ankle-‐deep water as models reclined at a mock cocktail party. In terms of sartorial styling, Brioni was remarkably progressive. In London in 1959, they showcased butter-‐coloured buckskin coats; in 1961, reversible astrakhan coats and checked cloaks; in 1970, a space-‐age, Futurist-‐inspired green and beige outfit that, to today appeared every inch the lounge suit of dreams for Star Trek’s Dr. Spock. “Traditionalism,” Savini told GQ in 1960 by way of rationalizing Brioni’s radical approach, “is alright for some people but we don’t like to stand still”
The protagonist of Brioni’s impending renaissance strides through the imposing lobby of Castello Chiola, the 2,100-‐year-‐old-‐castle-‐cum-‐four-‐star-‐hotel in the medieval hillside town of Loreta Aprutino, Abruzzo, in an elegant navy wool two-‐ button suit, white, high0collared shirt and navy silk tie (all Brioni, of course), and politely excuses himself for arriving to our interview. All is forgiven. Andrea Perrone, the 38-‐year-‐old grandson of Brioni co-‐founder Gaetano Savini, and co-‐CEO of the Rome-‐headquartered luxury brand, is a man of subtle integrity, as I’ll discern over the course of our interview, and there’s something about the seriousness of his expression that establishes immediate trust. We have a half-‐hour to talk before dinner with Giulia, Brioni’s new PR director, Angelo Petrucci, the brand’s 35-‐year-‐old global-‐roaming master tailor, and Jason Land, our photographer, and so we begin our conversation in the past, examining the wellspring of Brioni’s everlasting success: the relationship between Nazareno Fonticoli and Perrone’s grandfather, Gaetano Savini. “I think it was a great relationship between Nazareno and Gaetano,” Perrone muses as he sips on an aperitif. “One was a master tailor and the other was a great businessman, a great PR man.” Perrone credits their success, rather modestly, to “the right people at the right time, in the right place.” He says, “They were absolutely complementary, with different characters, talents and skills. But besides their different skills, they were also good friends, and they used to spend a lot of time together, which was a necessary condition to establish Brioni and make it grow. After the Second World War, it was so important to catch the American people coming in for the cinema, for the movies.” Perrone laughs and shakes his head. “Hollywood and la dolce vita, no? We are still, even today, talking about la dolce vita!” One of the keys to Fonticoli and Savini’s success, Andrea reasons, was their pragmatic understanding of the changing times. “They [Fonticoli and Savini] immediately understood that London and the London cut were too formal, so they introduced a touch of colour in the collections and different fittings. And it was very important at that time to have famous actors like John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable and so on [become patrons]. They were almost ambassadors. My gradfather… he brought the garments in luggage to the United Sates, showing the collections at all the fairs and specialty stores in 1950s. And Italian people at the time in the US were considered really second-‐class – we can even say third-‐class. He was really a pioneer and I was so lucky to meet him.” Gaetano Savini passed away in 1987 when Perrone was 16 years old, a tough blow for the grandson, given that he’s spent the first 12 years of his life living in the same house as his grandfather. “I have so many memories,” Perrone fondly recalls. “He was a really amazing person from the kind of charisma he had. Not only on the business side… A couple of years ago, when my grandmother died, I discovered all the letters written by my grandfather to her during his business travels. He was in love with her his entire life. He used to bring her flowers without any specific anniversary, making her part of all the important decisions of his life.” Naturally, another of his grandfather’s qualities that Perrone remembers affectionately was his outstanding sense of style.” He always liked to dress different, always unique. That’s why, sometimes, not today,” Perrone points to his
exquisitely-‐tailored navy suit, “this is some kind of uniform. But even when wearing a tuxedo, I like to be different. I think it’s important. Of course, there is a risk when you are different; that you can become kitsch or whatever. But that’s always the challenge you have. Elegance is an attitude, and the first rule is to never be excessive. And I don’t want to replace my grandfather. He was a master. It’s amazing how he really managed the business, how close he was to the staff, to the managers, the organization… the clients.” Perrone may not want to replace his grandfather – and, to be sure, nobody can – but the scion of Savini clearly has the ambition to reclaim the glory days for Brioni. In July 2006, the then 36-‐year-‐p;d Perrone formed a triumvirate with Antonio Bianchini and Antonella De Simone (the granddaughter of Nazareno Fonticoli), and took over from former high-‐profile Brioni CEO Umberto Angeloni, who had helmed the luxury brand for the previous 16 years. The three became co-‐CEOs, each with a different role and responsibility (Perrone’s is business development; Bianchini’s finance and operations; De Simone’s marketing and communication). Angeloni, it was reported, left in acrimonious circumstances. “I was too powerful, too glamorous and too much of a leader,” he bitterly complained at the time. When I enquire about the split, and whether the transition to power has been difficult, Perrone coolly plays a straight bat: “It’s always difficult and complex to manage a transition, like the one we had two years ago,” he says. “We were prepared to face that period, but it has been laborious and full of effort. At the same time, it has been a great and enriching experience.” Although he is young for the role as majordomo of Brioni, few could question Perrone’s credentials, nor his experience. As with most family businesses that are passed down from generation to generation, Perrone was involved in the business almost from the day he was born. Both his parents had major roles. His mother, Gigliola, the only daughter of Gaetano Savini, has designed Brioni’s women’s collections since she was 20 years of age in the 1960s; and Ettore, Andrea Perrone’s father and a Roman Lawyer, joined the business when he married Gigliola, opening the first American Brioni store in New York, in 1985. Andrea Perrone himself started working at Brioni as a boy during his summer holidays. His grandfather made sure he experienced every aspect of the business, and aside from taking him to all the fabric factories, Savini encouraged his grandson to work at Brioni’s Via Barberini store in Rome and the firm’s Penne-‐based tailoring factory. “I have and packed thousands of boxes over the years,” laughs Perrone. “I had to be at the factory at 8 am – as did all the other employees – and the exit time was never before 7pm. I didn’t get any salary, but at the end of my training, I was tipped by my grandfather.” At age 10, Perrone was tagging along with the couriers whose role it was to personally deliver the finished suits to clients, so that when he became a manager, and if a courier said it took him x amount of time to go from one place to another, but Perrone knew it only took y, he wouldn’t have the (Super 150’s) wool pulled over his eyes. By the time he was a teenager, Perrone was learning how to make hand-‐tailored suits. Finishing a law degree in Italy at age 24,
he then headed to the US to work in Brioni’s American corporation before returning to work full-‐time with the company in Italy. Given the current fiscal climate, 2009 may prove to be an interesting period for Brioni, but Perrone claims it’s “business as usual”; the company will open flagship stores in St. Petersburg, Lugano, Zagabria, Istanbul and Beirut this year alone. “Of course, today, the market is hard,” Perrone says, “but Brioni is deeply committed to preserving its heritage for the future sartorial clothing and the art of classic dressing,” – good news for aficionados of masculine style.
It was hardly models reposing in the flooded ballroom of the Waldorf-‐Astoria, but, as time will tell, maybe the unorthodox, futuristic, feather-‐and-‐satin-‐bedecked tuxedos exhibited in the gardens of a Milanese palazzo in June last year could very well have been the official first chapter in the renaissance of Brioni under Perrone and his co-‐CEOs. On display were the works of the 13 finalists, all students of London’s Royal College of Art. And Brioni is one facet of a three-‐year agreement for the latter to sponsor RCA’s Masters in Menswear Fashion Design course, which involves Brioni’s master tailors teaching the students the art of hand-‐tailoring at Brioni’s tailoring school in Penne. Perhaps tellingly, the creative award for the most innovative tuxedo went to jasper Sinchai Chadprajong-‐Smith, a design student who is half English, half Thai-‐Chinese – surely a human microcosm of the globalization of Brioni. The partnership is, Perrone says, “a catalyst for progression”, an “academic partnership” that “opens Brioni to the evolution of the market, to the new generation”. Clearly, a cutting-‐edge attitude is back in vogue at Brioni. Watch this well-‐tailored space.
In today's media-driven society, image is everything. Often judging a person by how they look, what they wear and the overall image they project. People seem to take pride in what they wear every day, whether it's at the office, the gym or simply when picking up a six-pack at the corner store. And although every successful man will admit that substance comes before style in the quest for success, he'll also acknowledge that sharp dressing habits make for a smoother and "classier" ride to the top. Man wants to dress to impress, the problem with that is that most of the human population cannot afford to don Brioni, Dolce & Gabbana or Canali every day. In fact, most probably won't get the chance to wear any of these upscale designer fashions in their lifetime.
Today, its made-to-measure garments come from the town of Penne, in Abruzzi, where all cutting, basting and buttonholes are still done by hand. Orders are from eight to ten weeks. In 2006 the family replaced Angeloni with three joint CEO's: Antonella de Simone, descended from Fonticoli, Andrea Perrone, a descendant of Savini, and finance man Antonio Bianchini.