It is not often that a luxury brand tries to differentiate itself from names like Saint Laurent and Valentino, but that’s exactly what John Vizzone, the Creative Director of Cifonelli does. He names both the aforementioned designer brands before saying impassionedly, “In those brands, one season you’re wearing skin-tight clothes, the next season you’re buying baggy clothes.” Paris-based menswear brand Cifonelli, pronounced chee-fo-nelli, doesn’t deal in trends. Instead, each collection reflects the brand’s 137-year-old history. As Vizzone, who is in Mumbai for a trunk show, puts it, “These are heritage clothes with a sort of background to them, and they mean something. No one will look like a fool in these suits.”
What that translates to is a reliance on classic pieces, executed in sumptuous fabrics, across its bespoke and ready to wear lines. Since being started by Giuseppe Cifonelli in Rome in 1880, the brand’s clothing, handmade in Milan, has been worn by men like Fred Astaire and Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld once famously said, “I could recognise a Cifonelli shoulder from a distance of a hundred meters.”
Lorenzo and Massimo Cifonelli, who are fourth generation master tailors and standard bearers for their great-grandfather’s vision, guide the brand. They hired Vizzone away from Ralph Lauren in 2014, to debut Cifonelli’s ready to wear offerings.
Indian affair
On Mumbai’s rainiest morning in years, at a well-appointed suite at the Taj Mahal Palace, in Mumbai, Vizzone and CEO Erwan Camphius are on hand to introduce the brand. Vizzone sports the brand’s signature cigarette shoulder along with a white polka dotted cravat, and red-tinted glasses, showing us how even a black suit can be personalised, stylishly. Camphius, on the other hand, is dressed in a Yves Klein blue three-piece suit, paired with oxblood socks and shoes. A single, discreet gold chain loops across his waist, hinting at a pocket watch.
Each room of the suite displays different aspects of its offerings — an array of suit jackets and other outerwear, swatches from brands like Loro Piana, and fabrics made especially for them. A soft khaki jacket seems like just the thing to wear with the slight nip in the air at present, but, unfortunately, we are not here to place an order.
For those who do order, however, after getting their measurements taken, and personalising their piece, they can expect delivery in four to six weeks. Prices for shirts start at ₹45,000 and go up to ₹3 lakh for suits. The brand also has a range of ties and bow ties that can be made in custom widths.
Vizzone, whose lean frame and sun-tanned skin belie his age, agrees that the closed body and cigarette shoulder defines Cifonelli’s clothing. That said, they do offer a Naples shoulder as well, for a softer, more natural look.
Fabric first
For Vizzone, the genesis of each collection is from the textiles used. He confesses that he seeks out texture and dimension in every line. “Usually the collection always starts from fabrics first. I research vintage fabrics, whether from the late 1800s or early 1900s, find the story within the fabric and then start developing the silhouettes.” For the current collection, Vizzone hopes to evoke a sense of royalty. “It is as if the gentleman sort of inherited this amazing mansion or castle, and he came in and found these clothes and then re-cut them to be modern — made the pants skinny, made the jackets narrow,” he elaborates. This, then, is clothing for someone who is confident in his own abilities, and doesn’t need to keep up with trends.
The average Cifonelli customer though, according to him, is a self-taught man, who knows what he’s looking for. “I can just give him the romance he wants,” says Vizzone.
Camphius characterises India as “a market that is eager to find something of quality, and not only a brand name.” They are looking to invest in the market and they hope the customer will understand that it is really Cifonelli, and not a representative. “We don’t do many markets,” he adds. The brand has permanent points of sale in only five other countries, but has been doing trunk shows, with travelling tailors across the world, regularly.
The lounge experience
When asked if there are plans to set up a brick and mortar presence in the country, Camphius clarifies, “No, we won’t have a ‘store’ because our retail concept is for Paris or London or even New York. That is, people want to go to the street and shop. Here, people don’t want to go to the shop, they want to have a personal experience.”
As a result, the brand is looking to debut a new retail concept in India, possibly in Mumbai. The lounge, as the concept is being referred to, “will end up being like a full store,” but will offer personalised service, “receiving one customer at a time, spending time with him and understanding and being there for him.” The upcoming Singapore concept is along similar lines and Camphius hopes to take it to Dubai and Moscow as well.
Cifonelli’s trunk show is on today and tomorrow (September 2 and 3, 2017), at Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi. 9820006780