It’s a matter of equal opportunities. For nigh-on 80 years Brioni’s peerless Roman fatto a mano tailoring was only formally available to men. Then, last year, creative director Norbert Stumpfl cautiously began to sprinkle a few refigured feminine pieces into his mix, before showing Brioni’s first ever standalone women’s collection last season.
We started today’s tour in one corner of the new Brioni showroom that was filled with mannequins. It was easy to admire the floor length wide-leg pant shape Stumpfl freshly introduced and nod appreciatively as he described the processes used to create his double-faced cotton trench coats and soft-touch python bags. A wide-revere tuxedo embroidered with 8,000 knots, each tied with a tiny Swarovski crystal was highly impressive (and apparently sold out).
However it was in the next room that Stumpfl’s most significant step forward in presenting his womenswear this season was revealed: real-life models. The luxuriant flow of the dense but intangibly light ivory silk in a floor-length shirt dress with inside-stitched patch pockets only became apparent as it was walked from one side of the room and back again. A strong-shouldered, nipped waist, long-skirted white double breasted jacket worn over a prominently-collared (only semi-tucked) blue shirt and those long wide trousers in a ripe tomato red looked like a lightning rod outfit for character amplification as it followed the same route.
And a single-vented white coat version of .