Why Brunello Cucinelli is the Italian poster child of quiet luxury

By wazup on September 12, 2023 Comments Closed / 65 views

The Italian luxury brand, known for its ultra-luxurious US$2,000 cashmere jumpers, raised its guidance for the year at the end of August after reporting a 31.9 per cent increase in profits during the first six months of the year. Sales were up 30.5 per cent on a constant currency basis during that time.

Brunello Cucinelli’s logo is seen on a door at their company headquarters in Solomeo village, near Perugia, Italy. Photo: Reuters

In a call with investors after reporting its results, the company’s executive chairman and creative director Brunello Cucinelli called out the quiet luxury movement as being a key contributor to its recent growth.

Brunello Cucinelli in Solomeo, the town in Umbria where he was born and still lives. Photo: Brunello Cucinelli

“This year, we’re actually harvesting the fruit of taste,” he said. “People’s taste is towards no logo … It’s about quiet luxury. So, of course, for us, this is a big advantage,” he added.

Timeless and understated looks from Brunello Cucinelli’s autumn/winter 2023 collection. Photo: Brunello Cucinelli

Quiet luxury or “stealth wealth” has been a leading movement and trend in fashion this year. It is considered to be the antithesis of the flashy “dopamine dressing” that dominated the fashion cycle after the pandemic. The focus is on wearing high-quality clothing and accessories that are both timeless and understated.

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High-quality pieces from Brunello Cucinelli’s autumn/winter 2023 collection. Photo: Brunello Cucinelli

This aesthetic has been best characterised by the costume choices of the main characters in HBO’s series Succession. Think US$600 Loro Piana baseball caps and US$700 Tom Ford jackets.

But fashion experts say this style of dressing has emerged in part in the Western world as a reaction to the current economic climate.

Quiet luxury is considered the antithesis of the flashy “dopamine dressing” that dominated the fashion cycle after the pandemic. Photo: Brunello Cucinelli

“When huge bits of the population are struggling to hang onto or heat their homes, flaunting extreme expressions of wealth looks tone-deaf,” said Lorna Hall, director of fashion intelligence at trend-forecasting firm WGSN.

“Right now, we are living through times that call for that more pared-back approach,” she added.

The ultra-rich in China are buying into the quiet luxury movement too. Photo: Brunello Cucinelli

In China, quiet luxury has taken on new meaning, experts say, to become a status symbol for the ultra-rich. By wearing expensive products with low-key logos, these shoppers project their status in a subtle way without having to flaunt their wealth. Meanwhile, “loud luxury” and logo-heavy fashion has become a symbol of the xinqianfeng or the new-money aesthetic.

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“They [the ultra-rich in China] care more about fine design details and sophistication rather than using luxury as a badge for broadcasting their status widely,” said Amrita Banta, managing director of luxury insights firm Agility Research & Strategy.

“They want to both keep a relatively low profile and not appear too tuhao or nouveau riche. They care more about how they appear to ‘those who know’, but not the public at large,” she added.

This article originally appeared on Insider.