Brunello Cucinelli Is Ready for His Big Paris Moment
He is inaugurating his new Paris flagship and screening his autobiographical documentary — plus it's his birthday.
Brunello Cucinelli is celebrating his birthday in Paris this year, and in grand style: officially inaugurating his new flagship on Thursday, screening the documentary “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary,” and hosting a brunch, cocktail party and black-tie dinner.
And yes, he assured, there will be cake — or some sweet dessert.
Located at 277 Rue Saint-Honoré, the Paris flagship sprawls over seven floors and roughly 30,000 square feet. The address encompasses three levels of retail, plus an employee lunchroom, an expansive alterations atelier along with dedicated spaces for fittings and bespoke consultations.
The cherry on the cake, still under construction, is a private apartment on the top floor where the brand can host and entertain press, clients, business partners and friends of the house.
The common thread running through the entire complex is warm hospitality — and conviviality.
“Across all our stores in the world, what we want is that as soon as you step inside, you feel at home,” Cucinelli said in an exclusive interview over Zoom. “We would like you to step in and feel a serene, peaceful atmosphere.”
It’s a feeling supported by soothing, natural colors and materials; airy volumes; legible merchandising; multiple places to lounge and have a drink dotted throughout the store, and a staff trained to treat first-time visitors and big spenders with the same kindness, grace and attentiveness.
Indeed, the Italian designer bristles at the oft-used industry term “VIC,” shorthand for very important clients.
“For me, VICs or VIP clients, they’re exactly the same as all the others,” he said, waving his hands and flashing a big smile. “Regardless of whether you buy one sweater or seven sweaters, you will be considered and treated the same way.
“This is really our corporate philosophy,” he stressed. “For us VICs, they do not really exist. They are just customers, and we want to treat them all the same.”
Store staff are trained “to be welcoming, polite and kind, because it is a time in the world when we need more politeness and kindness everywhere at all levels,” Cucinelli said. “I don’t want our sales staff to be pushy and to hustle customers because I know it myself. If I’m treated that way, if I’m pushed [to spend] in a store, I will stop going there.
“Also, we have a built-in bar, and a small café inside all the stores, so that when you step inside, you can have your cappuccino, your croissant, your pastry, which is typical of the Italian way,” the designer added.
A narrow atrium that lets light flood into the narrow, but deep retail spaces has been appointed with café tables where customers can sip a hot beverage, or perhaps even smoke a cigar.
The Paris store has been open since last December and — like all other Brunello Cucinelli units — bears a bespoke decor concept linking the spirit of Solomeo, the medieval village in Italy’s Umbria region where his company is headquartered, and the host city.
Cue French moldings and geometric Parisian floorboards mingling with Italian materials like travertine marble. Birdseye maple recurs as a detail on furniture and banisters, along with subtle copper details and velvet seating.
As in a home, artworks, books and ceramics are dotted throughout, along with such vintage finds as 1930s wood carvings and a 1970s light fixture in smoky glass.
All product categories are represented across womenswear, menswear, kidswear, accessories, eyewear and fragrances, alongside select home and travel pieces.
The store is large enough to accommodate a host of spacious fitting rooms, and a dedicated salon for special-occasion dressing.
Cucinelli is famed for his philosophical musings, and he did not miss a chance to quote some important French thinkers and political figures, name-checking Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and Napoleon Bonaparte.
“Rousseau and Voltaire are like two advisers standing here beside me,” said Cucinelli, who was dressed in a crisp white shirt and seated in front of a vast shelf dotted with colorful books, spools of thread and classical busts.
“French thinkers have always played a great pivotal role in my personal culture,” he said, paraphrasing Voltaire’s famous quote about the importance of embracing change, and Rousseau’s on the unique nature of each individual.
Holding the role of executive chairman and creative director of the company he founded in 1978, Cucinelli is also a staunch supporter of Made in Italy production, leveraging the expertise of the artisans in Solomeo’s Umbria region, a storied knitwear hub.
Publicly traded since 2012, his namesake company registered revenues of 1.43 billion euros last year.
During the interview, Cucinelli stressed the importance of the French market, and Paris as a historic cradle of couture and a benchmark of success in womenswear.
The designer’s first step in Paris came about 37 years ago, when he sold his collection to Victoire, a tony multibrand boutique on the Place des Victoires operated by Patricia Compain.
“It was a 70-square-meter store, and there was always a queue outside,” Cucinelli recalled. “Patricia would always say, ‘It’s better to have a small location and a queue outside rather than a large, empty store.'”
The new Paris flagship, located steps away from Rue Royale, replaces a smaller unit that operated at 54 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and went dark last March.
The company also boasts a freestanding boutique at 179 Boulevard Saint-Germain on the Left Bank of Paris — its first in the French capital — and another at 14/16 Avenue Montaigne, in addition to shops-in-shop at Printemps and Le Bon Marché.
Cucinelli said it took almost four years to find his desired location on Rue Saint-Honoré, prized by fashion companies for its concentration of luxury brands and, more recently, prestige fragrance houses.
His nearby fashion neighbors include the historic Paris flagship of Chanel, plus Dior, Valentino, Celine, Burberry, Chloe, Fendi, Christian Louboutin, Balmain and McQueen.
“This is a very noble, important street,” the designer said, noting he chose other iconic addresses for other key flagships, including Madison Avenue for New York, Via Monte Napoleone for Milan and New Bond Street for London.
Cucinelli chose to schedule the inauguration in tandem with the documentary screening, which is why it landed on his birthday. “The date worked well for both occasions,” he offered.
Following its world premiere last December in Rome at Cinecittà, the documentary was released in Italian theaters.
It was then screened at Lincoln Center in New York last April amid a black-tie gala, and released in North American theaters last July.
Additional premieres are planned for Shanghai on Oct. 22 and Hong Kong on Oct. 24. It will also premiere in Tokyo, but the date is not yet scheduled.
Directed by Academy Award winner Giuseppe Tornatore and starring young Italian talent Saul Nanni as the young Cucinelli, the two-hour movie takes a look at the entrepreneur’s life and company, merging the worlds of philosophy and work.
The film is part fictional, part documentary and revisits pivotal moments of the Italian designer’s life, from his childhood in the countryside to his transformation of Solomeo into a symbol of his vision of “humanistic capitalism.”
Archival footage and personal recollections are blended in the movie, alongside testimonials from the closest people to him. These include the American celebrities Patrick Dempsey and Oprah Winfrey.
