It can be flawed to suppose that two-for-one offers are only the area of fast-fashion chains. Throughout their storied pasts, a number of haute manufacturers have dabbled in dual-purpose equipment—from Bulgari’s enchanting Serpenti watch bracelet to Chanel’s 2.55 bag, an emblematic tote designed with a secret pocket within the entrance flap supposed, in line with sartorial lore, for discreetly storing love letters.
Loro Piana, the embodiment of “if you know, you know” refinement, has entered the world of favor multitasking with an creative double-ringed calfskin maintain that right away turns scarves into sublime however easygoing shoulder baggage. The magic occurs as regularly as you favor: Simply switch out the more than a few foulards and make allowance for never-ending chances of non-public expression. It’s a becoming introduction from a label recognized for its core values of custom and innovation.
Though it’s identified nowadays basically for its knitwear and outerwear made out of essentially the most valuable cashmere and vicuña, certainly one of Loro Piana’s first choices was once, actually, scarves. The new Library of Prints Scarf Collection counts 8 strains, every alluding to a bankruptcy within the corporate’s colourful tale. The Maestri di Lino, as an example, illustrates the method of remodeling humble linen into luxurious yarns and materials; the Animal Kingdom salutes the menagerie of vicuñas, goats, and sheep which can be sourced to supply the label’s signature textiles; and the Botanico, with its blossoming petals in comfortable tones of beige, purple, and light-weight blue, is encouraged via a hothouse of florals that experience emerged as perennial motifs.
Now owned via LVMH, Loro Piana is the go-to of the deep-pocketed recreational elegance that divides its time some of the global’s swankiest ports of name—and of celebrities who talk softly however elevate a large stick via eschewing fleeting logo-laden developments. The corporate’s discreet angle is precisely the other of that of its competition, who in most cases flaunt competitive advertising and marketing ways. (Ironically, this furtive way has develop into the topic of viral memes via @gstaadguy and different chroniclers of the vagaries of the ultrawealthy.)
Founded as a textiles provider in 1924 via Pietro Loro Piana in northern Piedmont, a space recognized for its experience in wool and weaving, the corporate sooner or later changed into a depended on supply for the arena’s maximum prestigious tailors and vogue properties, together with Nino Cerruti, Giorgio Armani, and Versace. In the early 1980s, Pietro’s grandsons Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana pivoted from generating and promoting materials to changing into a full-fledged luxurious space, crafting clothes, equipment, and home items. Expanding into ready-to-wear collections additional solidified Loro Piana’s standing throughout the vogue global.
“Not every brand is supposed to be for everybody,” stated the corporate’s former chairman, Antoine Arnault, in Loro Piana: Master of Fibres, a whopping monograph launched ultimate yr to rejoice the label’s centenary, “but the day people feel they want something that will endure, that they can transmit to their children or to those they love…then they come to Loro Piana.”
Indeed. And it’s now not simply the stealth-wealth side this is so interesting. With sustainability blipping ever louder at the vogue radar, items which can be made to ultimate are the one option to pass. Simple but impeccable designs just like the multiuse, ever adaptable shawl bag are completely situated to pave the way in which for quiet luxurious’s generational switch.
Lead symbol clockwise from most sensible left: the Loro Piana circle of relatives in Portofino, Italy, early 2000s; Pompeo Batoni’s Portrait of a Woman, 1785; Sophia Loren in 1965; Johannes Zorn’s botanical engraving Afbeelding der Artseny-Gewassen, 1796; the foulard maintain, to be had in Chocolate Licorice and Whisper White, and a shawl from the Botanico line; professional employees on the corporate’s wool manufacturing unit, circa 1920s.