The Brioni presentation was held in the courtyard of a Milanese palazzo, transformed into a verdant labyrinth where groups of mannequins were displayed, apparently enjoying some leisure time—lounging on the lawn, sitting casually on trees, resting on benches with aplomb. Norbert Stumpfl was busy walking guests through, prompting them to touch and feel up close the breathtaking lightness of the most luxurious fabrications the high-end market can offer. Brioni is the high-end of the high-end.
“We’re a very small team,” he said. “But we have four people devoted only to researching the best fabrics, made exclusively for us.” The lightness of Brioni’s fabrications is preternatural; when you touch the cashmere-silk blend of a weightless deconstructed blazer, or the vicuña of a thinner-than-thin jumper thrown casually over an equally ethereal seersucker overshirt, it feels as if you’re touching a cloud. It’s a rare sensation of extremely expensive nothingness. “I want to give our customers clothes they can forget about,” said Stumpfl. He wants garments to be supremely luxurious yet unassuming, nearly disappearing into the background. “You almost don’t pay attention to them, what’s important is the face, the person.” A very fortunate person indeed.
Chez Brioni, formal tailoring is transmuted into a virtuoso exercise on the supplest, most sensual suiting construction possible; the more fabrications are weightless, the more they’re difficult to cut with the required firm precision. But apparently nothing is impossible for the über-skilled Roman Brioni tailors: the shoulders of an entirely hand-stitched cashmere blazer were soft, velvety and gently rounded. “The line of the lapel must also be perfect,” explained Stumpfl, “Shoulders and lapels are the most important part of a jacket’s construction, because they frame the face like a portrait. They give you a subtle, elegant lift.”
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