Brioni Says Goodbye Milan Men’s Wear Fashion Shows

The Italian luxury tailor Brioni announced it would hold its next show on July 4 in Paris during the women’s couture season, dumping its usual June Milan men’s wear slot.
The planned couture show is linked to the opening of the refurbished Brioni flagship store in Paris. This reflects a very specific positioning of Brioni’s made-to-measure business as the men’s wear equivalent of made-to-order couture. Gianluca Flore, chief executive of Brioni, refers to it as “pret-a-couture”, and immediately after the show, special runway looks will be available for customers to order.

“We aren’t a fashion brand, so we don’t need to mimic fashion,” Mr. Flore said in explaining the new system. “We are a style brand, so we are going to follow the customers.”

Brioni also plans to combine its precollections and main lines and sell both after the shows, so there will be only two selling seasons a year as opposed to the current four. Brioni’s business is evenly split between its own stores and wholesale, with revenues of about 180 million euros, or $206 million, a year, reported NY Times.

Brioni is the third label owned by the Kering Group to reveal that it will no longer be playing by the old calendar rules. The other two are Gucci and Bottega Veneta. Similar announcements followed from Burberry, Tom Ford, Vetements and Public School.

Carlo Capasa, president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Italian chamber of fashion, which administers fashion weeks commented: “We are in a time of great experimentation. Lots of brands are trying different approaches to see what is most effective.” Mr. Capasa then said that he is not concerned that brands were abandoning men’s fashion week.

Photo: A model presents a creation from the Spring/Summer 2016 Menswear Collection of Italian label Brioni during the Milan Men`s Fashion Week, in Milan.EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO