Loro Piana is one of the top Made in Italy brands; its wool, cashmere, camel and camel hair are a reference in the luxury industry in Italy and beyond. Beyond that, innovative and functional treatments (such as Storm System weatherproofing) are widely incorporated into their designs by other houses: I cherish my K-way remix tradition of Milan Loden executed in Storm System material.
However, while Loro Piana’s tactile recognizability is high, its visual identity is less clear. That’s why, under recently appointed chief executive Damien Bertrand, the brand is working hard to make its products look as distinctive as they feel. Evidence of the move was evident in the showroom space, although you had to jump between the menswear and womenswear lookbooks to catch a glimpse on the runway. For the first time since LVMH acquired the brand from its family founder ten years ago, both menswear and womenswear have been shown together, and you can see that both design teams have consulted on colourways, fabrications and silhouettes to create a more coherent look. Product.
The heads of the various design teams who flew offline in accordance with company policy suggested that their common inspiration for this season came from the tributary countries where LP’s often vertically integrated supply chain begins. They are Peru, Bolivia and Argentina (camel hair), New Zealand and Australia (wool) and Mongolia (cashmere). These inspirations were applied gently in pattern and tone to two collections that struggled to get along: coats from Loro’s more traditionally masculine classics were adapted for womenswear, while the wrinkled, fuller pant shapes that the womenswear team majored in Reflects the look of menswear across multiple collections. The collections complement each other well and look good too.
In terms of feel, though, it’s hard to compete with the bales of unspun cashmere that you can touch in the market room upstairs: for this skin, the touch is almost Gentle, as if touching something non-gaseous, liquid, and non-solid. Loro Piana is an inherently discreet brand, traditionally more advanced in technical development than in its expressions. This collection points to shaping a more coherent sound that declares its excellence.
