‘I wanted to be a real expert, to have a speciality or niche,’ says Italian entrepreneur Brunello Cucinelli about the origin of his eponymous luxury fashion label, globally renowned for precious fabrics and exquisite craftsmanship. ‘There was no coloured cashmere for women, so I went to the dye shop and here we had the most famous dye expert, a young guy. I said, “I’d like this to be orange.”’

Mastering the craft of knitwear since 1978, Cucinelli laid the foundation for a successful lifestyle brand which today includes soft tailoring and elevated casual wear – both for women and men – as well as fragrances and homeware.

In his autumn/winter 2024 women’s collection, the designer explores an authentic desire for simplification, infusing masculine sartorial codes with softness. The spotlight is on beautifully handcrafted knitwear pieces in generous volumes and furry textures. Cardigans and sweaters in cashmere, wool, silk, alpaca and mohair feature intricate Aran motifs, macro Argyle patterns and classic ribs. Openwork knits are styled with fluid wool trousers, while poplin shirt-dresses are layered underneath long, cocooning coats, suggesting demure sophistication. Textures and proportions dominate the eveningwear, where sequins and Lurex-embellished blazers meet elongated suit trousers and linear midi skirts trimmed with sumptuous black feathers. The autumn/winter 2024 collection’s signature neutral colour palette – including shades of grey and warm white – reiterates the fashion house’s pledge to understated elegance, by which Cucinelli wishes to achieve ‘simpler, more meaningful lives, less redundant, more in equilibrium, with more equity and tranquillity’, as he puts it.

Throughout the years, the “King of Cashmere” has developed a unique approach to business – called “humanistic capitalism” – which combines radical kindness, artisanal skills and a deep fascination for classical philosophy, aiming to gain ‘a fair and sustainable profit, harmonised with giving back’. It all paid off with an incredibly healthy and thriving business story: despite the current global economic slowdown, the family-owned label – which Brunello runs with his daughters Camilla and Carolina – registered growth in profits and revenues in the first half of the year, consolidating its strength across all the markets. ‘I dreamed of a business to make profits ethically, with dignity, without causing suffering to people and offence to Creation, or at least as little as possible,’ Cucinelli says.

His 360-degree philosophy of business came to fruition through the nearly 35-year-long restoration of the hamlet of Solomeo, a 14th-century village in central Italy, where the company is headquartered (and where Brunello’s wife Federica grew up). ‘To restore the dignity that belongs to work and mankind: this is the dream which the hamlet of Solomeo has always yearned to fulfil,’ says the designer. Nestled among the verdant rolling hills of Umbria, Solomeo – renamed the “Hamlet of Cashmere and Harmony” – houses the brand’s manufacturing plant with its state-of-the-art facilities. This is a place unlike any other factory. The 1,200 staff are welcomed into airy, light-filled spaces surrounded by art, books and the lush Umbrian greenery.

Culture played a crucial role within Solomeo’s refurbishment, including the opening of a theatre, a library and the School of Contemporary High Craftsmanship and Arts. The latter is one of the projects the Cucinelli family is most proud of. Described as ‘a place for excellence – the spiritual, moral, civil’, this unique training hub strives to preserve the manual skills behind traditional artisanal crafts – with courses such as Pattern Making and Women’s Tailoring, Cutting and Men’s Tailoring, Mending and Linking – and pass them on to the next generation.

The Italian brand does communication differently, too. In its latest campaign, Greek lyric poet Sappho, Neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia and Italy’s first female architect, Plautilla Bricci, are among the nine inspiring female personalities chosen as ante litteram brand ambassadors. According to Cucinelli, women embody the universal value of ‘gentle luxury’ – which he describes as ‘finding beauty in simplicity. It is welcoming to all, it is within measure and is always appreciated, as it knows the value of respecting others’. Undeniably, the same sense of ease and spontaneity reverberates with natural sophistication in his recent autumn/winter 2024 womenswear collection.

brunellocucinelli.com