Assouline, the long-time cultural authority on luxury lifestyle, has announced the release of its latest coffee-table book, Brioni: Tailoring Legends by Olivier Saillard & Bret Easton Ellis. Written by fashion historian Olivier Saillard, Brioni: Tailoring Legends chronicles the rise of the Rome-based Italian tailor, now owned by French luxury group, Kering, from the ashes of World War II to its position as the go-to “sartorial destination” for, as the book states, “Nobel Prize winners, rap stars and heads of state.”
Containing hundreds of drawings and photographs taken from the Atelier’s archives, the 264-page volume celebrates decades of Brioni’s iconic fashions. Founded in 1945 by Gaetano Savini and tailor Nazareno Fonticoli, “Atelier Brioni” was named after the Croatian Brijuni archipelago, then under Italian rule. Brioni is credited with heralding in the era of Italian tailoring of bold colors and lighter materials, in direct contrast with the restraints of its Savile Row counterparts. In the book’s foreword, American novelist Bret Easton Ellis summarized the attraction of Brioni when recalling the first suit he bought from the tailor. Presented with a “surprisingly very simple: two-button, navy blue” so much so that he didn’t “[expect it] to make much of an impression, since it seemed so basic,” he found it to hit the spot by being “chic, but it was invisible, it didn’t loudly announce itself,” he wrote. “The suit was, I thought, the most beautiful and comfortable I’d ever worn: so simple, so streamlined… effortlessly flattering.” Brioni: Tailoring Legends is available to preorder and Assouline will ship the volume on February 23rd.
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