In this year’s Best of the Best, we continue to honour the brands and people who have continued to create covetable products, even in the midst of a global pandemic. Here, we have Brioni, the best in tailoring
For decades now, when many of the world’s most powerful men – be they heads of state or captains of industry – want to look their sharpest, they reach for Brioni. Its suits have been a staple in the international uniform of success ever since the brand first brought slick Italian tailoring to the global stage in the ’50s. But times change, and since Norbert Stumpfl took the reins as executive design director in 2018, so has Brioni. Stumpfl has loosened things up, and this new mood reached its apogee as the emphasis shifted from boardroom propriety to WFH sophistication. Brioni’s suits still confer power but, rendered in washed silks, double-splittable wools and cashmeres, are now the lightest, softest tailoring the brand has produced in living memory (not to mention some of the most sumptuous). The materials’ ease is tempered with slightly roped shoulders and wider lapels for a look that’s strong but not stiff. As Stumpfl points out, the comfort of these suits allows for the ultimate sartorial power move: “You see the wearer more than the garment.”
