Milan: A counterblast to AI at Brioni, Corneliani and Philippe Model

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 14, 2024

Milano Moda Uomo announced a counterblast to AI this season, as houses like Brioni and Corneliani presented their collections with mock-ups of ateliers and artisans sewing and cutting fabrics, while Philippe Model focused on contemporary French cool.
                                 

Brioni: Fashionable levity and leisure wear

 A clean bill of health at Brioni, as the legendary tailoring house expands increasingly into leisure looks and women’s wear.

One floor of its presentation was devoted to an atelier, where sketches by designer Norbert Stumpfl were placed amid fabric swatches, wooden rulers, scissors, and chalk – all illuminated by moving spotlights in the shape of hands.
 
“It’s important to remember that everything we do is hand made. AI can never replace that,” noted Norbert.

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Under his guide, Brioni continues to develop incredibly subtle new fabrics – like a 70 gram silk, scrunched and compressed to create a uniquely marbleized finish to a matinee idol’s tuxedo. Or an inspiring dinner jacket in patchworks of moirés, velvet, silk and gabardine.
 
Through responding to the strong trend for casual luxury, Brioni also showed fine cashmere over-shirts; weekend cabans and deep-ply cashmere jumpers in deep hues of petrol blue.
 
“There’s a growing demand by our clients for leisure wear, though always at the top level. For both men and women,” explained CEO, Mehdi Benabadji.
 
Brioni has always provided custom-made clothing for women clients, and this presentation included several ready-to-wear looks for women. Next month, the house plans to take that to a new level by showing around of score of women’s looks in a dedicated presentation during Milan’s women’s ready-to-wear season in February. 
 

Corneliani: Whiskey and cognac, weft and warp 

Another brand underlining its roots was Corneliani, whose presentation featured four tables showing the key steps in making a great jacket: pattern cutting, baste fitting, assembly and sewing. What the house termed - intertwining the weft of tradition with the warp of contemporaneity.

Under Stefano Grazioso Tramonti, GM and style director of Corneliani, the house has moved with the times, with a more forgiving silhouette, and a sense of contemporary volume. Like the patch pocket over-shirt in a creamy whiskey hue; or a great peacoat made in knubby cashmere that was thick but very light, worn over a cognac shaded cardigan.
 
“The colors of the season, whiskey and cognac,” enthused Grazioso Tramonti.
 
Cut with lots of drop shoulders and largely deconstructed, the line all felt very modern from this famed Mantua-based tailoring powerhouse.
 
Styled with black reverse shearling jerkins with leather flap pockets worn over nylon plaid shirts or pants cut wide with deep pleats.
 
Though the heart of the latter were the very classy double-breasted blazers and jackets that sum up Corneliani’s DNA; a touch of Italian class, with not too much sting at the cash register.
 

Philippe Model launches ready-to-wear

Dusting off venerable brands is often tricky, though one marque coming back to health is Philippe Model, which debuted its first fashion collection in decades in Milan this season.

Designed by Tuomas Merikoski, its Finnish-born creative director who has done stints with at Riccardo Tisci’s Givenchy and Kim Jones' Louis Vuitton, the mood was very much cool, credible and French. 
 
“I wanted to bring the mood back to Paris. For me the city is the melting pot of art, culture and creativity,” explained Merikoski.
 
Playing on the brand name seen in hip leather patches even sewn boldly over one beige khaki safari jacket. And incorporating the founder’s fondest for a shield emblem, seen in shield-shaped pockets on a great micro-pinstripe suit in light wool and viscose.
 
Presented in a showroom in central via Bigli, whose walls were repainted impressionistically by Philippe Model himself. Not exactly a job for AI.
 
Founded in Paris by hatter and aesthete Philippe Model, the brand has gradually developed into a high-end sneaker marque. In 2016, it was acquired by 21 Investimenti, the investment fund owned by Alessandro Benetton.
 
The house now plans to roll out the fashion collection in a wholesale model. There are only six Philippe Model flagships worldwide. Saks buyers came by on Saturday, good news for business in the U.S., where CEO Stefano Di Nezza explained the group is opening a distribution center.
 
Call it model management at Philippe Model.