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Performative dressing during the menswear weeks usually means sidewalk peacocking for Phil Oh. At Brioni today Norbert Stumpfl brought the performance inside, punctuating the label’s usual mannequin-worn presentation with an energetic display by around a dozen dancers from various companies. This was meant to demonstrate that Stumpfl’s pieces (peerlessly put together by Brioni’s Penne-based tailors and craftspeople) are as robustly free-flowing as they are richly beautiful. It worked. Handstands, high kicks, forward rolls and other contortions that would have put most of the audience in traction left these fall menswear looks (plus a few spring women’s equivalents) utterly undisturbed. Said Stumpfl: “I wanted to show the lightness of the clothes and the movement they afford you. It’s kind of a fashion show, but it’s also something more. These people are highly trained individuals. In that, they are like Brioni’s tailors. It takes a lot of time for them to master their craft.”
To Brioni owner Kering’s credit, Stumpfl has been given time, too. Following a period of relative turmoil, he joined in 2018. Apart from slowly introducing womenswear (there will be a presentation in Milan next month), he has rebuilt Brioni by gently refreshing its tailoring soul while pragmatically broadening its informal offer. Today was the latest move in one of contemporary luxury’s most calmly choreographed brand evolutions. Deerskin sneakers south of suede shirting and double split construction silk mix tailoring (somehow both fitted and roomy) were presented in a variety of top-to-bottom tonal combinations. Outerwear included membrane-waterproof field jackets in a mohair/silk/wool mix with detachable cashmere linings, alpaca-lined parkas, deerskin/crocodile bombers, and many supremely soft and swooshy peak-lapel overcoats in plain or gently patterned cashmere. The season’s cardigan comeback gathered momentum.
Eveningwear continued the mostly-tonal mood: one especially punchy example was a shawl collar silk tuxedo in pale lavender with matching shirt and pocket square. This recalled Brioni’s post-war origins, when it injected pizzazz into tailoring by offering the hyper-confident American market silhouettes that were as powerfully colored as they were broadly shouldered. Stumpfl mentioned he and his design team had recently been invited to spend time at home with Gigliola Savini Perrone, daughter of Brioni’s charismatic cofounder Gaetano Savini. “She explained her father’s vision to us,” he said. The high-collar, double-breasted jackets here were a tribute to that heritage, but also pieces you could see dancing into a contemporary wardrobe.
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