Brioni

Brioni opened on Via Barberini 79 in Rome in 1945, founded by Nazareno Fonticoli and Gaetano Savini. Fonticoli was a master tailor from Abruzzo and Savini handled sales and design, and together they set out to reframe Italian menswear in the years after the war.

The name came from the Dalmatian island that had been fashionable between the two wars and had become synonymous with elegance, sweet living, and dandyism. The early reputation was direct enough that, as one account from the period put it, “Rome has taken the place of London as a mecca for those who want to dress well.”

Menswear was the entire proposition, not an extension of it. Brioni was the first tailor for menswear to use bold colors and lighter material, introducing new silhouettes using slimmer shapes with natural shoulders, and in 1952 it staged the first menswear fashion show in the modern history of fashion, inside the Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, where the Peacock Revolution was introduced.

The design language softened the Savile Row template, softening the structure of the suit and allowing style and fashion into men’s tailored clothing, with raw silks and rich brocades entering the palette, and the slim “continental” silhouette encouraging textile experimentation and color.

The house showed alongside Roman couturiers of the day, often appearing with Sorelle Fontana given the affinity between extravagant Roman womenswear and Brioni’s tailoring for men. Recognition followed quickly, including the Esquire (New York) award for valued contribution to menswear in 1959 and the International Fashion Council award in 1962.

Production was labor-heavy by design. A Brioni suit required 10 hours of handsewing, 18 hours of fine craftsmanship, 42 pressing stages, and 186 manufacturing phases.

The business expanded through factories, schools, and category extensions before changing hands in the 21st century. In 1959 a production plant opened in Penne, Abruzzo, the birthplace of Fonticoli, and the Brioni Roman Style factory introduced the concept of Prêt Couture, a ready-to-wear approach that pushed the brand internationally. In 1985 the company opened a tailoring school in Penne to transmit the Brioni sartorial method to younger generations.

Hollywood was an early channel, and the role of 007 became a longer chapter, with James Bond dressed exclusively in Brioni from 1995 to 2006. In 2011, Brioni was acquired by the French group PPR, renamed Kering in 2013.

Creative direction has shifted several times since, from Brendan Mullane in 2012, who experimented with silk, hand-painted fabrics, and kimono-belted suits, to Justin O’Shea in March 2016, who pushed stronger shoulders, smaller waists, and longer jackets, and on to the Austrian designer Norbert Stumpfl in October 2018, who introduced a more minimal cut focused on cashmere, silk, vicuña, and suede.

Today the house dresses heads of state, film actors, and a clientele that still orders made-to-measure in volume, sitting in the Italian tailoring tier alongside names like Kiton and Cesare Attolini while remaining the Roman counterpart to Milanese and Neapolitan traditions.