An ardent student of philosophy, Brunello Cucinelli contemplates how looking to the past can help the fashion industry—and humankind—map out a better future
Brunello Cucinelli is as much a philosopher as he is a designer, only cashmere is the medium through which he imparts his beliefs. It is not unusual to hear the venerated Italian designer, renowned for high-end knitwear, quote everyone from Confucius to Xenophanes in any given conversation, as he did with me the day after he opened Pitti Uomo with his latest menswear collection. “Plato, followed by Aristotle and then Jean-Jacques Rousseau, were the first to introduce the idea of a social contract,” says Cucinelli, while explaining the writings he ruminated over during lockdown last year. “I’m confident now more than ever that we need a social contract, this time not just between human beings, but with the animals and our environment, to strike a balance between profit and giving back. That must be the legacy of this pandemic.”
The 67-year-old designer spent much of the past year secluded in Solomeo, Italy, a utopia of sorts, which he bought in 1985 to serve as his family home and “business village” of 800 employees, complete with a kindergarten and restaurant, as well as a school of arts and crafts and an idyllic garden lined with busts of philosophers for meditation. He penned open letters that were published on his website, sometimes showing gratitude for a people (like the Chinese and Mongolians for sharing their wool with him), sometimes waxing poetic about his grandchildren, and sometimes reflecting on the state of the industry, on which he has many thoughts.
As fashion businesses screeched to a halt and brands were brutally forced to reassess their values, Cucinelli—who has always prided himself on creating a “humanistic enterprise”, which highlights craftsmanship and sustainable modes of working—was able to largely operate as usual, without laying off a single staff member or implementing any extreme policy changes. If anything, the company expanded. Cucinelli opened its London Bond Street store in early 2020, Paris Avenue Montaigne store in December and has plans to double its stores in New York, St Petersburg and Tokyo this year.
That’s not to say the pandemic didn’t take its toll; sales suffered double-digit losses throughout the year. But rather than destroying its wares to maintain scarcity, Cucinelli and a council made up of ten members of his family and staff chose organisations around the world to distribute thousands of dollars’ worth of excess stock to those in need. He was reminded of a childhood incident when a hailstorm destroyed his family’s entire harvest, and a neighbouring farmer loaned them 20 bales of grain. After that, Cucinelli’s grandfather would offer the first bale of his harvest to the community as a gesture of gratitude, one that the designer now wants to emulate.
His fall-winter 2021 collection, too, titled The Synthesis Of Yesterday and Tomorrow, aimed to recontextualise the future through its past. Without the ability to travel to New York and Tokyo, places Cucinelli and his team habitually visited for inspiration, they instead took to reinterpreting the brand’s codes for the future. For example, with men gravitating towards sweaters rather than jackets, Cucinelli designed 100 per cent cashmere outer-shells filled with down feathers as its version of a super-luxe piumino, and hybrid trainers, like British derby shoes with athletic soles. It’s this unrelenting pursuit of ultimate comfort and understated elegance that has made him the designer of choice for many tech billionaires today (Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are said to be fans).
“This collection epitomises my point of view; it’s expensive but it’s made with natural fibres gentle on nature and the highest-level craftsmanship because it’s meant to be worn well into the future,” says Cucinelli. “I want them handed down to the next generation.”
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