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- [00:00]
A
What comes to mind when you think of a winning fashion brand? Maybe it's the viral launch, the celebrity moment, or the product everyone suddenly wants. But what works for a brand today doesn't always sustain it tomorrow. The brands that survive years of trend cycles and market shifts usually have something less visible in common strong wholesale foundations and the ability to stay profitable through change. Having worked with brands like arc' Teryx and Spanx, we've seen first hand how they survive market shifts by keeping their wholesale operations incredibly button up. At New Order by lightspeed, we see this daily. Processing billions in transactions across major retailers like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Shopbop gives us a front row seat to how the industry is evolving. And what we're seeing is the most enduring brands aren't always the flashiest they're simply the easiest to work with. By offering better inventory, visibility, cleaner assortments and faster replenishment, the they protect margins and give buyers the confidence to place that next order. In fact, our 2026 research report reinforces this 78% of senior brand leaders now rank wholesale as their top investment priority. That's what New Order is built for, bringing ordering, inventory, pricing and product data together, making it easy to plan assortments, collaborate with retail partners, and grow with total control. Learn more@neworder.com that's n u o r
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d e r.com Imagine warm air, ocean waves and sunlight reflecting off water. That dreamy, transportive energy is exactly what defines this season's Tropical Fantasy trend. At Macy's, this trend leans into swirling prints, sheer fabrics and sorbet bright colors that bring a soft, beautiful, beachy glow into everyday style. Macy's fashion experts are known for translating Runway inspiration into wearable looks. And with Tropical Fantasy, they've created pieces that feel light, radiant and easy to style, from flowy silhouettes that move with you to airy layers that feel breathable in summer heat. Key elements of the trend include iridescent textures, aquamarine tones, soft metallic finishes and dye effects that mimic the movement of water. Shell details remain a staple, while water pearls are emerging as a standout accessory this season. Even footwear plays into the trend with modern jelly sandals that feel sleek, translucent and effortlessly cool. To complete the look, tropical inspired fragrances add that final layer bright, sunny and transportive, with notes that evoke warm destinations and ocean breezes. And no plane ticket required, just effortless, sunlit style that brings the feeling of a tropical escape into everyday life. Shop the collection now. Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's fashion and beauty Memo Line Sheet. And today with me on the show is Zegna artistic director Alessandro Sartori. We're talking tailoring from Milan to Malibu. Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love Puck, where I send an email called Line Sheet. If you're a fashion person, you get that reference. It's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries. Line Sheet is scoopy, analytical and above all, fun. Along with me, a subscription to Puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment, media, sports, politics, finance, the art world and much more. If you're interested listeners of Fashion people get a discount. Just go to Puck News fashionpeople to join Puck or start a free trial. Happy Friday, everyone. Hope you had a great week. I'm in Los Angeles still. Last night was the Hermes show. Tonight is the Zhenya show. I got to see some art, some friends, some fashion. Now it's back to Paris. I'm excited to be here this summer though. I. I need to go. There are a bunch of restaurants I haven't been to. I still haven't been to the wilds I still haven't been to. I don't. Do I need to go? That's a question. I do need to go to Bartobello and I. There was a party on Friday night. There's a party tonight that I'm invited to there. I'm IRSVPed. I probably won't go because I have to get up at 5am to go to the airport on Thursday. In Line Sheet, our inner circle issue. You have to upgrade to access it as all the really good stuff. I'm worth it. I had some good reporting on what's happening inside Caring right now. New CEOs, executive changes. Lots, lots of interesting stuff. I would check that out. Malik also had an update on some personnel changes at Fear of God. So you should, you should look into that. But let's get going with Alessandro and I will see you in Paris next week or maybe London the week after. Maybe Milan the week after that. Alessandro Sartori. Welcome to Fashion people.
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C
Ciao, Lauren. Ciao a Tutti. I'm very happy to be here with you.
- [05:18]
B
I'm so happy that you're here. What did you have for breakfast this morning? It's still quite early in Los Angeles.
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C
Oh, it was a lovely croissant with cheese and ham and a nice cafe Italiano, though, because after a Few days here in la, we were asking to make this very stretto and I'm very happy I had it.
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B
Oh, you know, I. I know a good Italian restaurant in LA that's very modern. Maybe I'll send it to you.
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C
Not for this trip, but please, please do it.
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B
I never know if Italian people want to eat Italian food outside of Italy
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C
the most, but they do. Yeah. The most. Yes. Or I can tell you that after a few days abroad, wherever you are, you want to eat Italian, you want to get back to that flavor. I think mostly because the Italian menu are not very complicated. The original one, you know, there is just some oil and a little cooking. Everything is very fresh and I like that feeling of that smell. So after a while we go back to that food.
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B
Yes, I feel like I also do that, even though I'm American.
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C
You're cooking at home, are you?
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B
Yes, we try. I mean, I'm in Paris mostly now, and so it's harder to cook at home at night, but.
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C
But mostly for one is very difficult, you know, if you cook for two or for three, it's easier even to buy the food and to have the right sizes and for one, it's more difficult. I get.
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B
Yes. Yeah. No, I mean, I do have a husband and child, so we have to cook.
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C
So you're cooking for both of them?
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B
Yeah, well, I'm not cooking. My husband is.
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C
It's a good one then.
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B
He's a good one. I try. So what do you tell us what you're doing in Los Angeles?
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C
We're preparing this beautiful moment. You know, Xenia decided few years ago to have his own format. We were working very much to understand what our customer wanted. The idea is not only to meet them in our stores, but to meet them around the world in specific moment, one off moments, as such. So here in la, we're bringing our villa format and I tell you about it in a second. And we're doing the fashion show on Friday night. The fashion show we are hosting here in Maribou actually is a real show that would have happened in the Fashion Week. It's not the repeat of a show that did exist before. And on top of that, the day after we open Villa. Villa is a format that we do twice a year that starts from the principle to repeat what we have up in the Oaside Zena, in Tribero, in Piemonte. So the name is arriving from the villa of the founder. So we bring the villa of the founder around the world. Oazide Zeni is this incredible Natural reserve where he started to do not only his own businesses, but also to take care of nature back in 1910. And the villa is inside the park of Iose and is connected to the wool mill. So there is a beautiful course that goes from the villa to the factory. And inside the villa and inside the factory there are all the memories of what it did and what we are doing. Of course. So we're bringing that idea around the world. And inside the villa for five days, we invite our final customers to buy the fashion show collection that they just saw. So from Friday on. And also an exclusive collection that we do make to measure or bespoke for our client that we don't offer in our stores, but we just offer in these limited moment, limited spaces.
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B
Do you show in Milan every other season or do you have you not showed?
- [09:11]
C
We do so. No, no, we do so. Last show was last January for the Winter 26 collection. And we hosted the show in an outside location. We tried to travel the city to let people understand what Milano is, even the secret hidden places. And we build an installation related to the mood of the season.
- [09:33]
B
Do you feel like I'm gonna be in Milan for part of the men's shows this season? Just to do meetings. I'm going to like three shows. But what I realized was there weren't. The schedule is populated, but it's not full. A lot of brands now don't do shows or they do combined shows during women's. How do you feel as a leader in Italy, in the Italian fashion industry and obviously Milan based business, do you think it's important to show? Like why do you show a ready to wear main collection not during. During the calendar.
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C
So I think under a big transformation, many brands are doing different things as we do a different thing. But I think the format is under a transformation according to what each brand and the mission of the brand needs. As far as ourselves, we found very important to meet our customers and also to don't consider the the only moment of a show. And it's not a war game. It's really that we are talking about something that happened with a show at the center, but for a wider and a broader moment. But I have to start from the composition of our guests at the show itself to explain what I'm telling you. So if years ago, like just before COVID as an example, most of the people were retailers, wholesalers, of course, journalists and a word of vip. Vic Instagrammer. Okay. Today the composition is much different because we have many wholesalers less we are distributing 90% via retail. And so we are replacing those population with final customers. Just in this villa in Maribou, we are invited more than 120 final customers, plus one, so 240. So over more than 500 people. Almost half of them are final customers and their partners or fans.
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B
That's amazing.
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C
And the reason is that we want to bring the real collection down to the real people that are wearing that collection afterwards. So thinking this perspective, to travel the world and meet them where they are. So California, Dubai, Shanghai, we were in New York, and so on and so on for us is very important. But even when we do the show in Milano, we do the same. January was a fashion show with a villa, and the villa took for five days. Most of our Milano Mottella Polione store was a beautiful moment. And during those moments you also have a time to meet the customer personally. Even for dinner or. Or lunch is a completely different format. We're really happy to create something which is unique for Zegna. So going back to your question, I think that it's very important that each brand does its own trajectory according to what the mission is.
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B
You really live and breathe Zegna?
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C
Very much so. I born in Vazi Zegna, actually. I don't know if you know that. So actually you what? I born in the Aussie myself. So inside. No, no, it's true. It's not a joke. Looks like a joke. So my family was living in Biella, which is at the end of Ioazi, but up in Trivero, in the valley, in the mountain. Actually, until early 2000 there was a nice maternity hospital. So when my mom gave birth, she went there because she knew the doctor and she wanted to go there. So actually I bought Born in Trivo, where Voas is. Looks like a joke, but it's not.
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B
It's amazing.
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C
So I brief. I briefed Zeng entirely.
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B
So. So you. You started your career at Xenia, right? Or very early in your career? How did you get into fashion? Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
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C
Just because my family name is Sartori. The answer is yes. No, I'm joking, but. But actually my brother does completely different job. So it means the same character is in the software electronic. A completely different world. So my mom was a tailor, actually. And I remember that she had a beautiful atelier in front of our apartment. And I was a kid, 4, 5, 6 years old, getting in and out from her atelier into our apartment to atelier and vice versa. So I smell and felt the feeling of Wearing of dressing, of creating, of crafting, of making. But what attracted me the most, and since when I was a child, this is a strong attraction I have, is to transform a 2D surface, so a fabric into a 3D garment that enhances people aesthetic. And I really like the idea of transforming a 2D into a 3D and create something that's good, to make everybody the best version of themselves. And so I started with that and then I did a textile school. Because in Italy there are a couple of high high school like Lise with textile, not only, I would say courses, but mostly with the aim of working textile as a long run. So they are doing experiment with the fabric mills, these schools, they're doing specific project creating exclusive fabrics. So was a nice. Was a nice. Not only touch up, but immersion in the fashion world. But at the beginning of a chain. And then I did the design school. I worked the most of my career in Zegna. I did six years in Paris Vaux and I'm back since 2016.
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B
How did you end up at Zegna? Was it because you wanted to do menswear? Was it because it was the job that you found? Like, how did you end up there?
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C
At the beginning? It was the job I found. I remember I was cycling with my dad, I was six or seven, in front of the wall of the oasitzenia, in front of the wall of the villa and the factory, and was dreaming about this magical place, but I didn't know anything about it. And then when I was 23, after redesign school, I got a job, but that was the chance I got. So it was totally random, but I'm happy it happened.
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B
Did you ever think about designing women's? Because I think your clothes really work for women.
- [16:37]
C
Oh, so when you are at school and even in your design dream, you don't do differences. I'm talking about myself, so I think about men and women at the same time. We are not designing for women at Xenia, but we like the idea that the wife, the sister, the daughter, the girlfriend, borough the garments from their husband and partners. We like that. And so we're showing in the show some women, but with men's clothes, because we think that those same garments in a smaller size are good for women too. But we are designing for men.
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B
Yeah, I went to the showroom one season. I don't normally, I guess now that I'm in Europe, I'll come for men's more, but I was in around men's and I went to the showroom and I loved so Much of it. I think also your sense of color works across gender or is genderless or gender free or what have you. How do you think about color?
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C
Oh, I love to see myself in positive and negative. So black and white versus a world of color. I really like colors. I like the colors that are not predictable too, like the tobacco, the deep green, the petrol blue, the burgundy, the reds and the wine color. I really like those colors for men. For women too, but for men. And what is interesting is to try to think that suits are not the classic two button jacket and regular pant, but are compositions of different tops and bottoms in the color in the same fabrics. And if you start from this perspective, you can create combination of overshirt and pant, of chore coat and pant, of outerwear and pant in the same color in the same fabric. They create a new sort of suit. And these colors we're talking about are appropriate for these new form of suits.
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B
So it's more modular dressing than thinking about an outfit.
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C
One outfit, yes. And these are correct. These are giving the perspective to our customer to style themselves in a different way, according to the moment and the need, but using the same pieces. So with two jackets and one pant, you can create two outfits, but with three jackets and the same pant, you create three outfits. If you're able to blend the things together. So we are telling them how to style and the styling, let's say, discussions we have with them is very important. And so I go back, that's why it's very important to meet our final customers. It's very important to explain what we're doing and to show to them what selling stands for.
- [19:42]
A
A few years ago, brands were still trying to figure out what modern wholesale should look like. Now, almost everyone uses a platform. The real question is, why are so many teams still struggling to keep up At New Order by Lightspeed, One thing we hear constantly from brand leaders is we have the tools, but we're still drowning. The reality we're seeing is that teams are stuck in the basics, jumping between systems and managing orders manually. In fact, our research shows nearly nine out of 10 brands still rely on these manual workarounds just to get through the day. It's called the toggle tax, and it makes it impossible to stay agile when demand shifts. But when your inventory and retail partnerships are aligned, it creates a ripple effect that protects margins and drives growth. At New Order by Lightspeed, we work with global brands and retailers, from Coach and Tory Burch to Nordstrom, Bloomingdale, Shopbop, and more. Sitting close to these wholesale transactions gives us a rare look at how those back end decisions ultimately dictate what consumers can actually find and buy. That perspective is built into New Order's platform. It was designed by industry insiders who understand both sides of the wholesale relationship. And now, through our direct integration to Lightspeed Point to Sale, brands and retailers can track real time sales and reorder quickly. So the right products are always on the floor and shoppers never leave empty handed. Learn more@neworder.com that's n u o r der
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B
what if everything you learn in history class was only half the story? I'm Dr. Haruni Bhat, host of Hidden History. Every Monday I go where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. On Hidden History. I treat these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Listen to and follow Hidden History available now wherever you get your podcasts. Why do you only wear black and white? Is it just in your. In your mind? Does it not feel clear to you to wear color?
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C
No, because I love colors, but I love to see myself just with a shape to understand the shapes better.
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B
Interesting. Okay.
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C
And I do all the experiment of a new silhouette of myself, believe me, and many times I wear the garments in the office for hours. I go back and I take another garments and I try again and I ask the team to do the same. We are engaging all the components of the team to wear the garments to understand how they work and the same is for different fabrics and colors. So I like this idea of trying. At the end though, I dress mainly mainly black and sometimes white like today.
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B
Are you wearing an aura ring?
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C
I do, yeah.
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B
How long have you been wearing it?
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C
For few weeks. Like four weeks. Okay, I. I like how do you feel but I. I need to tell you I. I try different things, different watches, I don't speak about the brands and so on. But I didn't learn. I like things that are letting me learn something. And from this ring I learn a lot.
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B
So you like data?
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C
I do. But mostly I like to understand when I do something different if a different thing works for myself. So I understood few things in this week which are worth to sleep more. As an example.
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B
Yes, I wore one for a couple of months and I found that I really like tracking my information.
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C
What do you say?
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B
It stressed me out because sometimes I would wake up and say, oh, I felt like I had a really great sleep. And it would say, I didn't. And then the next day I would be like, oh, it was terrible. And then it would say, yeah. And so it just like I've decided that I. But I understand. It's interesting cause it sounds like you like to like you're talking about the clients and being very close to them, so you can see how they wear the clothes and help and help them, teach them how to use the clothes even better and more fully.
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C
Yes, yes.
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B
What have you learned? Like, when did you start developing relationships with them? I know you've been creative director for what, almost a decade?
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C
A decade.
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B
But prior to that you were at Berluti and prior to that you were still in the business. When did you start, when did you start having these one to one relationships with the clients?
- [24:25]
C
I consider myself a designer, but also a tailor. So sincerely, I have to tell, I think there is something very interesting in addressing people, which is also the relationship you build with your customers, which is not just about selling. It's mostly telling, learning, understanding, teaching, and mostly dressing them, styling them. And I like that moment. So since ever I have to tell you, but I need to tell you one episode that happened to me During COVID since 2020, I would say autumn. We started during COVID to meet customers via FaceTime teams or other platforms. And the idea was to try to sell to them in a way which was not just about buying a product, but teaching them on how to wear the product. I remember one day I met a customer from us. I was in our Milano store, was late afternoon, and I did prepare a rack full of garments. They told me that was a very, very loyal Zenya customer. He wanted something. I didn't know what he wanted was the beginning of winter. So I prepare a rack, I prepared the camera and I was ready with a guy, a model, to use as a model to show in the garments. This guy was in his 50s, very gentle. He told me, oh, you know, I would love to buy a Zegna coat. And he said, wow, what color you like? And he said, oh, maybe like blue, maybe navy blue. I said, but you're wearing black today and what's your wardrobe made of? So the guy said, you want to see? He said, yes, I want to see. So he turned the camera, he left his little studio, he entered the closet and he showed to me his wardrobe, which was quite beautiful, I have to say, and well organized. And they say, listen, but I don't see many blue. I see a lot of brown, a lot of black, a lot of charcoal gray, some green for summer, why you don't change. And we go on a charcoal gray, not on a blue coat. And instead of buying a classic coat, as you wanted, I offer you the idea to buy an oversized coat a little longer that goes with everything in a charcoal gray cashmere. So at the end, it happened. He bought it, and we still send each other Christmas wishes. And that was a good example of how you can change the perspective of a customer, telling him to buy better. And he says to me, every winter, oh, I still wear your coat. I said, thank you.
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B
It's amazing. With designers I see in America, they often call it like a clinic, or there are certain designers who want to be. Be connected directly to the customer and certain designers who don't. But I feel like in this. In this era, the only way to sell clothes is to have that direct relationship.
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C
Yes, yes. And if we start from the principle to dress people and to let them be the best version of them, this engagement is very important. And today, with the cost of the product, the value of what you buy is even more important. And so we want to give a full value to the product they buy, which is craft, is fabric, so is media, is content. And of course, is also the relationship.
- [28:13]
B
How have you seen the suit? We were talking earlier about modular dressing and sort of like jackets with pants. Not. Not a suit suit. It's interesting to me to see the sort of evolution of the suit. Eight years ago, five years ago, you'd see the suit is dead, and now the suit is a massive part of fashion.
- [28:37]
C
Yes.
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B
That being said, we're in Los Angeles right now. You see the way people dress every day.
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C
Yes.
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B
People are not wearing suits to work, all the agents prior to Covid had to wear a suit. They don't. That's not required anymore. But there is a more desire for them. Before, it was like you needed them, and now you desire them from your perspective as a designer and a designer of however you want to say it, things that are jacket and pants. What do you think the sort of use case, how has it changed? And how has it changed the way you approach your collections and the way you. You design things?
- [29:19]
C
So I have two answers for this question. First, I like to think that the suits are part of the wardrobe in a more cohesive way. Before, customers, before this transformation, were coming to the store asking, oh, I need a blue suit, or, oh, I want a black suit, because my old black suit is gone today. We like to think that if they buy a suit is working with everything else. So it's not only one product, it's part of a full aesthetic. So shoes are working, socks are working, the right shirt or the right polo shirt or whatever. But everything does work. So they buy less, but they buy better. And the same is as far as fabrics and content. We are selling many make to measure suits, not only because they want something that has different buttoning or a different style, but sometime. And mostly, I have to say, in America, is also because they want a different fabric. They want a very exclusive kind of color. They want a specific stripe or a nice texture. And that goes mostly with the make to measure service that we do. The second answer is that I don't see only tailoring for suiting. And that's one of the things we bring at Xenia. We're using tailoring suits for, of course, the uniform of a new wardrobe, as we said, but we're using tailoring fabrics and tailoring craft into sportswear. So the rules to build the shoulders in a certain manner and to use certain fabrics, like the cashmere or the linen or the vicuna that we are bringing to tailoring are the same rules we're bringing to sportswear. So you see some of the Zegna sportswear pieces that they fit like a beautiful suit, because even if they are overshirts or different jacket or as we said, new jacket, they are made in the same department with the same rule as the classic suit and the same for fabric. It's not rare to find pants or to find outerwear in a beautiful stripe, which is the orme and stripe that we did use in the past, only for suiting. So I think there is an evolution of this matter and it's very important and is what is bringing new energy to the tailoring.
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B
Yeah, it's interesting. It feels like. Do you think the world will ever go back to dressing more formally day to day?
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C
I think that there is a big revamp on evening. So 10 years ago, few people had a tuxedo. Today we all want a tuxedo or two or three. So there are more and more moments to wear formal and to be dressed up again. Where on the other side, though, I don't think we go back to the shirt and tie business as before.
- [32:29]
B
Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. That's a good point. So many people do have tuxes now.
- [32:38]
C
Yes, yes.
- [32:39]
B
Women too?
- [32:40]
C
Women too. And it's beautiful.
- [32:43]
B
How do you approach a fashion show? I feel like I know I'm very intimate with your shows because you do show every other. Not off the calendar kind of off the calendar. And also because they get a lot of attention. A lot of other brands tend to. I don't want to use the word copy, but are inspired by your approach to fashion shows, by your designs. I feel like it's one of the men's shows that I'm always like, I have to look at it. How do you think about a show? When you got back from Berluti and you were named creative director, how did you think? I am going to make fashion shows an important part of how I communicate my mission and my goal for the brand.
- [33:36]
C
So I did change my mindset mostly in the last 10 years. And the reason is that I was, like many of my colleagues, thinking that every season needed a different mood. And that mood was important not only for the season, the communication, the marketing, the advertising campaign, everything, but also to bring a different chapter into the brand. During COVID we were thinking, I was thinking a lot about the value of a product. And I think that one of the reason why there are brands that are suffering today is because they are burning with the new collection, the old collections. So collab, collab, collab, collections, collections, collections. But if these pieces that you are selling to your clientele are not talking to the old one, basically customers are buying pieces that are not going together with what they bought from you. And so it's difficult to build this wardrobe and the new silhouette incorporating pieces of a past buying. So I thought that was important to change the paradigma. And also for fashion shows today, we are into a book, and we're writing pages after pages, but it's the same book, are not different books. So what we're doing is layering season after season, and we are building a big wardrobe that is working with a wardrobe of the past because it's the same wardrobe with new pieces. So frequently we do styling and fitting with a new collection using also pieces of two, three, four seasons ago, even three years. Four years ago. So old pants, old jackets with the new pants and the new jackets to try to see if they work together. So we need to evolve. Yes, but we need to be in the same spectrum, because today we're not in 20, 15, 16, 17. The costs are different, prices are different. So the product needs to have a real meaning and to last forever. So we're looking for fabrics that are lasting forever, constructions that are coming from the past, double stitching, special split inside the jacks. We have a lot of secrets to make those jackets here and here, and not only today, but also tomorrow, and valid forever or as much as Possible thinking that you will eventually give your pieces to your younger brother, to your younger sister, to your son, or to a friend, because there is a tangible value inside the product. And it's not just about love for the product, but it's what the craft, the cost, and the strong effort each one did to make that product itself. So I go back to your question. Shows are, to me, a very important part of communication, is a pinnacle of style. And the aesthetic of a company is very important to be fresh and new each season, to deliver new products, but thinking that you are layering with what you did before. And so there is a language, and Zinnia today is a language. And we don't move outside of this table, outside of this platform, because we want our customer to feel proud of buying the fashion show product and to be able to blend them with what they did buy a few seasons ago.
- [37:15]
B
You know, when your hair turns out just right and it kind of sets the tone for the whole day, I feel like we're all chasing that, but none of us want to spend an hour getting to that point. That's why I've been really, really into l' Ange hair lately. I switched over to their Axia hair dryer, and the first thing I noticed was how compact and lightweight it is. It just makes styling feel way more manageable, especially on those mornings when you're rushing but still want your hair to look put together. And I've been using their gloss shock treatment along with it, which has been such a nice addition for my super coarse, super curly, super frizzy hair. I'll spray it on damp hair, then blow dry, and it just helps everything look smoother and more polished like that. Fresh from the salon kind of finish. But at home, which is extremely hard for me to get, it's been amazing. What's great is how these two work together. The heat from the dryer activates the treatment, and you end up with soft, glossy hair in under 20 minutes. It's simple, it's quick, and it just fits into real life. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants an easy routine that still delivers super, super nice results. Go to launchhair.com and use code fashion to get 20% off your first order. That's L A N G E H-A-I R.com and use code fashion for 20% off at checkout. So good, so good, so good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love, like Vince, Sam, Edelman Frame and free People join the NordicLub to unlock exclusive discounts. Shop new arrivals first and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. How did you start working at Julie?
- [39:06]
C
Oh, she's a friend, first of all.
- [39:09]
B
Yes.
- [39:10]
C
Sorry, you finished your question? Apology. Yeah.
- [39:12]
B
No, no, no. It's just I feel like it's a special collaboration.
- [39:21]
C
Very much so. I met her a long time ago because I keep watching like everybody today, but images and books and different publications, and she was working for a fantastic magazine, mess of the world that was at that time, hyper important. I'm talking about 2011, 2012, 2013. That magazine changed the communication for that moment into a different world. The idea of using a lot of product with a sort of patina, the idea of dressing real men, the idea of dressing characters attracted me a lot. So one day I was in New York and I talked to a friend of mine that was a friend of Judy. I would like to meet this girl and to try to understand what are her thoughts behind what she does. And so we met and we started to chat with a nice dinner. And then we were on this conversation of how did we see menswear evolving? And then in 2015, I had the chance to change my stylist and to work with a different person, and I started to work with her. And here we have 12 years after. Yeah.
- [40:42]
B
How would you describe your working relationship? Because it's so different with every designer and their stylist. Some designers don't have a stylist, some the stylist. It's just. What. What would you say your dynamic is like?
- [40:57]
C
I like the conversation that you have with a very clever person that is in your root but is bringing her energy. And even when we have a different opinion, we share the same vision. And I like the idea of blending. And the same is for all the other team members, blending different ideas, where one plus one makes three, not one or zero five. And under this perspective, she's giving me a lot. And the team enjoy to work with her. So we're very happy. We have a beautiful conversation. I would say it's more a conversation than a relationship.
- [41:39]
B
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. You have spent most of your career at Zhenya and are so closely connected to the brand, but you did take a hiatus and you worked at Berluti for what, like six years?
- [41:55]
C
More than five years.
- [41:56]
B
Yeah, more than five years. What was that like, to remove yourself from something you knew so well and Then go back to it.
- [42:04]
C
I wanted to do a different experience and I would be grateful forever to them that they let me do what I did. I wanted to understand more about leather, about shoes, about bags, about all that environment, which is very different. As I will be grateful forever to gild that got me back in 2016. But I have to say that when I joined Xenia Back in 2016, I was more complete as a person because of my experience abroad in Paris for more than five years, but also as a designer because I saw different manner, different method, different ambience. And I knew what I wanted better after that experience.
- [42:58]
B
How did you like living in Paris versus Milano?
- [43:01]
C
Beautiful. Love it. Yeah. Milano and Paris is 5050 to me. I would move there tomorrow, but I would miss Milano and I would come back the after. Are both amazing cities. Yes. Because they both incorporate craft and beauty. Even in this completely different manner. They are totally different cities. But I like the craft and the beauty that these two cities are giving.
- [43:27]
B
How do you feel about the way Milan is changing? There's so many expats and it feels very different to me than the first time I went there 15 years ago.
- [43:37]
C
I love the city. I really love, love, love the city. I love the little abbots. I love to get into a bar and to don't ask anything because they know what they want, what you want, and they give it to you. And this is 7:30 or 8:00 o'clock in the morning. I love a relationship you have your with the grocery, the people around. And also I love the city because it's becoming more international. A lot of beautiful hotels and restaurants and store. Very good energy for me as a designer. Very good place to work. There is another important thing that normally is never said, but is important to tell. Italy is where all the fashion brand in luxury are doing their own products. But Italy is also the place where all the atelier and the pattern makers are for those companies that are producing. Okay? So even if you are in Paris or if you are in New York, if you are in la, sooner or later you have to come back to Italy because you need to meet the people that are doing your products. And living in Milano as this important factor that I meet the artisans, the pattern makers every day, basically. So they are just behind the corner, they are in Parma, in Vicenza, in Firenze. But basically I meet these people every day and to work with them directly and not sending a DHL to give them the sketches and the fabrics directly. Explaining what I want one to one is very important. Is an important point of the development process and is very important to have a very cohesive and very thoughtful collection.
- [45:23]
B
Yeah, it feels like, I mean, this is a given, but I've been weirdly talking about this a lot with people this week. The more work you put into something, the better the outcome or the more like actual touch the, the back and forth.
- [45:40]
C
I cannot express this better. The same love you put every single action is then at the end, what people will see, will wear, will get from the product you give to them. And we're spending hours and hours and hours from the fiber. This is another important thing of Zenya. We're working from the fibers. And at the end, all that amount of work, all that amount of know how a lot of people, a lot of hands. We were checking one day a few years ago, how many hands are going into a suit? 500. So 250 people. So it means that there is so much and more you give more that product will give to the final customer. So yes, I double agree with your sentence. Yes.
- [46:32]
B
So you've been working for this family for a long time. You, you left, you came back. Why do you think your relationship with Jildo is so strong? Like, what is, what is it about the dynamic? I know that he's in town this week as well. How have you learned to make it work to. To build something so strong?
- [46:57]
C
I have to say that Jilto is the best entrepreneur I ever met, first of all, because he's combining the know how, the love, the passion, the work, is such an hard worker. But most, mostly he's passionate like nobody about what he does. He's in love with product, he's in love with retail. He likes to stay with people. He's loved by everybody in the company. He's really the best I ever met. And these two sons, Angelo and Eduardo, are the same. So the family is very lucky to have them because the three of them are a fourth, really second, but very important, both of them. And Gildo is the master of this. They never started. They work like a manager that stays three years in a company, five years in a company. This, I think is another problem of other brands sometimes because they change so many managers and they stay so little time. Gildo took the company with the idea to give the company to his sons better the day he's giving the company to them. So his mission was a life spent to make the company better and to be here forever. So it's a completely different mindset when we meet, when we speak about sustainability, when we speak about Fibers. When we speak about how to build fabrics, we are buying hyper fast looms to make technical fabrics. But we're buying old Jacquard vintage loom to make fabrics that are not doable anymore without those machines. Just an example. So everything they do, every single action is related to be here forever. I like this. I like it very much. It's like being in a family where we all know that we're doing something that tomorrow will be here and somebody else will take care of it in the same manner. So that's the love that is giving to me and it's the feeling we have in the studio. Each one of the members, I think is feeling the same.
- [49:13]
B
I know you still have a lot of work to do. My last question for you is what do you think of Los Angeles? What do you enjoy doing here when you have time?
- [49:25]
C
I love a city. I need to tell you a little secret. Years ago, 20, about 20 years ago, I planned three weeks of vacation around us and I started my plan from LA and then I wanted to do part of the Route 66 and so on. I love driving and I did twice coast to coast, Miami, la, twice in the past. So I remember that summer I said, okay, so. So I booked two days at the standard hotel up in West Hollywood and doesn't exist anymore. The poor hotel, we love it so much. And then I will leave with, yeah, it was a fun hotel, Elvis, little cafe. And then I will start with my car going around. So the day I arrive, I took the car, I rented the car. I arrived at the hotel, I unpack, I did a shower, I went down cafe to have a sandwich and I didn't leave a standard hotel for three weeks. Basically I stayed and every day I was asking, sorry, two more nights, One more night. Two more nights. And I love a city. I love a city because there is like Milano, something to discover. Every day is hidden. It's different. I know that many people, they say, oh, doesn't have a center. I don't know where to go. But it's beautiful. You have to discover. Unlike many cities in the same city. And I love the vibe. Last not least since I love photography, I think this city has the best light in the world.
- [51:06]
B
It's interesting because it's so different from European light. But it's, it's. And European light is so beautiful. But it does have the light. Here is the. This. Obviously the sunsets are visas, phenomenal. It's a magical place. It's a magical place.
- [51:23]
C
It is, it is.
- [51:24]
B
Well, I'm glad you're here this week. I'm looking forward to the show and I'm so happy to meet you. Thank you for taking this time and congratulations on all of your success and doing it in the way you feel.
- [51:35]
C
Same here. Lauren, thank you for this time together. I would love to have a coffee soon.
- [51:40]
B
Yes.
- [51:41]
C
Congratulations for what you do. It's really beautiful, interesting and is teaching people and you always do a lot of interesting analysis. I really like it.
- [51:51]
B
Thank you. Well, this was such a pleasure and we'll have a coffee in Milano soon.
- [51:56]
C
Soon. Promise. Then good.
- [51:58]
B
Good luck on Friday.
- [52:00]
C
Gracia Mille. Ciao. See you soon.
- [52:02]
B
Ciao.
- [52:02]
C
See you soon.
- [52:03]
B
Bye. Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck. The show is produced and edited by Molly Nugent. Special thanks to Puck co founder John Kelly, Executive editor Ben Ben Landy, producer Maya Tribbett and director of editorial operations Gabby Grossman. An additional thanks to the team at Odyssey, Kelly Turner and Bob Tabador. Your next chapter in healthcare starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus campus, see live demos, meet instructors and learn about our associate degree in nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Carrington Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, visit carrington. Edu Sci.