Costume National

Costume National was founded in Milan in 1986 by brothers Ennio Capasa and Carlo Capasa. Ennio developed the clothes and image while Carlo led the business. Having worked with Yohji Yamamoto in Japan, Ennio brought an interest in reduction and silhouette to an Italian fashion house that would become closely associated with rock music and lean tailoring.

The menswear line, Costume National Homme, followed in 1993. Slim jackets and narrow trousers gave its wardrobe a sharp outline, while leather and dark fabrics connected the suit to a more nocturnal way of dressing. Formal clothes could suggest a musician heading onstage as readily as a man arriving at an office.

That distinction gave Costume National a place in the menswear of the 1990s and 2000s. The design depended on proportion and surface, with a controlled palette drawing attention to the body inside the clothes. Footwear and accessories extended the image, and fragrance introduced the name to an audience beyond its runway collections.

The Capasa brothers departed in 2016 when Japanese investor Sequedge took full control. Koji Udo subsequently directed menswear and Yasutoshi Ezumi womenswear from 2017 until their contracts ended in 2020, after which an internal team developed the fall collection. The house’s archive preserves its defining proposition, an Italian wardrobe in which tailoring and rock culture could meet on equal terms.