THE CONTEMPORARY MINIMAL DANDY

Press Release Fall Winter 2014

White shirt, black tie and tartan: these are the constants that define the contemporary dandy at Corneliani, a man who constructs his elegant style with his intellect, a man for whom good taste demands continual exposure to new cultural inspirations.

Luxury is not an end in itself. Rather, it announces itself, direct and insouciant, in the premium materials that make up a wardrobe of understated sophistication, where deepest blue and black dominate an evergreen colour palette relieved by the many shades of grey and natural hues, freshened by a refined dash of moss green.

Sergio Corneliani, Creative Director at the Mantuan maison, has dreamed up a contemporary dandy who is elegant and discreetly knows it. Time languidly spent in literary salons putting on a confident style has given way to the complexities of the metropolis and the most modern ways – and means – of communicating, for a dynamic, fluid and efficient everyday lifestyle. Hence, the jacket sits easy at the waist, and the cut of the shoulder is soft and natural. The elongated silhouette is tempered by the crisp but short trousers, without the afterthought of a turn-up.

The coat is as fulsomely long as ever, with a half-belt or to wear with a belt. The clean, minimal design of the biker-style jacket with its matte-finish crocodile stands out, creating an unostentatious matte look, reflected in the ample bags to be carried in the hand.

Nor does the mink add pointless pomp, shaved as if to mimic super-soft velvet adorning jackets with clean lines or zip-up heavy jackets.

The sportiest garments tend to the subtly generous in size, evoking geometries and patterns on a square-shape theme.

The strictly cashmere suit is impeccable in the ash-grey fine Prince of Wales check, brown bird’s eye, or the sobriety of solid dark blue and jet black. And the knitwear keeps evolving with a wealth of original variants: in the sleeves of the jersey parka, and in a highly desirable variety of leather or sheepskin short jackets right up to the cardigan / heavy jacket in an easy Black Watch tartan and the jumper with jacquard effect courtesy of interwoven leather threads.

The collection expertly underlines the value of sartorial savoir-faire with an innovative twist, where the blue-green tartan pattern – which finds expression in the overcoat and the jacket, in the trousers, the heavy jacket and even the bag inserts – becomes the iconic motif of the autumn/winter 2014 wardrobe by Corneliani, the exponent of a style imbued with the power of tradition for over half a century.