Python Jackets and Diamond Ties: Welcome to the World of Extreme Luxury Clothing

At a time of widespread sneakers and jeans, some brands are moving in the opposite direction towards ultra-high end garments

IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE in the market for a python jacket, Corneliani will be glad to sell you that very thing next spring. Last week during Pitti Uomo, the world’s largest men’s clothing trade show, held in Florence, Italy twice a year, the 50-year-old brand previewed a scaly yet bizarrely soft python jacket, in not one but three colors. It will set you back about $10,000. Not quite luxurious enough for you? You’re in luck: Corneliani also makes a full nubuck crocodile jacket for $62,000.

If this sounds like a dispatch from...