Beast to Beauty: Deerskin suits become ‘new trademark’
Berluti’s historic love of leather is reinterpreted on the catwalk for autumn-winter 2020.
In a departure from the classic lines and tailoring that Berluti is known for, creative director Kris Van Assche paired leather with neon and sportswear in the opulent surroundings of Opera Garnier for Paris Fashion Week in January. Almost two years into the role, the former Dior designer showed that he could marry CEO Antoine Arnault’s vision with his own, offering a startling mix of colour for the autumn-winter 2020 collection.
When he took the position, Mr Van Assche said he had always wanted to build bridges between the heritage of a house and his contemporary vision. “Antoine Arnault spoke to me of his ambitions for Berluti and this challenge fits perfectly with my own will and vision,” he explained.
Launched almost a century and a quarter ago in Paris by footwear artisan Alessandro Berluti, the brand built its reputation creating bespoke leather shoes for a discerning clientele, which has included the Duke of Windsor, Jean Cocteau and Andy Warhol. The company expanded into leathergoods in 2005 and became an even more rounded fashion house with the launch of ready-to-wear in 2011.
“Kris Van Assche intensifies the Berluti heritage, transposing its shoemaking expertise to tailoring,” said parent group LVMH. “In a continual conversation between contrasts, old and new inform and augment one another, marrying bourgeois and rebel style.”
The company’s leather heritage was evident at the Paris show with printed calfskin throughout. Lightweight leather parkas, aviator jackets and woven lambskin houndstooth coats were paired with cases, bags and holdalls. The luxurious leather suits that Van Assche first created for autumn-winter ‘19—and which LVMH has described as “a new Berluti trademark”—showed that deerskin offers an alternative option when supple materials are required.
Updated branding
To cement his mark, Van Assche has designed a new motif, which features on many of the bags and small leathergoods as well as trunks, a watch case and a shoe care kit from a new collaboration with British luggage-maker Globe-Trotter. The logo combines a picture of the shoe tree of the first pair of shoes made by Alessandro Berluti and the undulating strokes of the Scritto motif, a tribute to the art of calligraphy created by Olga Berluti, granddaughter of Alessandro and the company’s artistic director until 2011.
“My idea was to design a printed canvas that would look as if it had always existed in the archives,” says Mr Van Assche. “The more I think of the future, the more I want to anchor it in a historical context.”
For the Spring 2020 Pre-Collection, Van Assche reworked a vintage blue-brown patina originally created by Olga Berluti into a vibrant flame blue shade. ‘Burnt Blue’ appears on bags and shoes, and is mirrored in their cashmere knitwear. The collection also included a reversible fur-lined hooded jacket made of deerskin and kangaroo fur and a lightweight jacket, designed to be worn over a suit. The colour also updates the Alessandro shoe, named after the founder. Berluti’s lace-up Oxford originally created in 1895 is made from a single piece of leather without any visible seam.
As well as on the catwalk, Van Assche’s influence is beginning to have an effect on the bottom line, where the brand is making “good progress”, according to LMVH. The luxury group reported record revenues of €53.7 billion for 2019, an increase of 15% compared with 2018. Profit was €11.5 billion in 2019, up 15%, compared with “an already high level” in 2018. It said it had achieved good levels of growth in Europe and the US, and that its figures for Asia were strong, too, “despite a difficult environment in Hong Kong in the second half of 2019”. “The desirability of our brands, the creativity and quality of our products, the unique experience offered to our customers and the talent and the commitment of our teams are the group’s strengths and have, once again, made the difference,” said Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s CEO.
Berluti’s new fan base is also a reflection of the company’s direction: alongside the fashion set, the front row in Paris included US rappers and footballers, and supermodel Bella Hadid walked in an androgynous blue suit. Days after the show, actor Michael B Jordan wore a hot-pink Berluti suit to the Oscars, seemingly undeterred by bumping into actress Zendaya wearing an identical Berluti suit at the same party last year. With its army of new fans melding with its traditional customers – the “bourgeois and the rebel”– leather looks like it has a safe future with Mr Van Assche and the French fashion house.
