LALTRAMODA By Brittany West - Friday, March 05, 2010
"L'Altra Moda was created in 1991 by Marco Ferrone. It's a woman fashion brand which met a high success in only few years and became a well-known and valuable landmark in Italy and abroad. Its mission is to give flexibility to the fashion system, always supplying the market with trendy collections and new products. Each season, 2 collections are completed by a "pronto" service. LALTRAMODA has got into the fashion market through a widespread distribution channel by opening boutiques and franchising, and entering in the main department stores and multi-brand shops. The first shop was inaugurated in Rome in 1994, and three years later L'Altra Moda organized a big party for the Milan's flagship store opening. The brand started its international distribution penetrating the European market: Spain, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland. In 2001, L'Altra Moda continues its expansion in Orient with the opening of a shop in Tokyo in partnership with Sanki Shogi Co. Ltd. The label L'Altra Moda becomes LALTRAMODA in 2002.
The first Advertising Campaigns of LALTRAMODA spread an innovative concept of brand mission : to offer the difference, that is to say the alternative to luxury brands, keeping the same fashion concepts. The LALTRAMODA Advertising Campaigns have been supported by several international brand ambassadors: Natassja Kinski (1991-1992), Carre' Otis (1992), Martina Colombari (1993), and Brook Shields (1996-1997). Today LALTRAMODA proposes a new high-impact message, inspired by fashion trends. The renovated and more attractive logotype, with its bubble colour, reinforces the communication concept."
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Cantarelli By Brittany West - Monday, December 07, 2009
"In the Cantarelli lounge - where art comes alive in all its colour and variety - six people relax and enjoy each others’ company.
Imagine a top-class hotel in an international capital city, where the relaxing atmosphere is enhanced by the setting and its contemporary design features.
The keynote features are the elegance of the pinstriped suits and the fact that the people are evidently in plaster casts. But the plaster doesn’t hamper freedom of movement… and it does nothing to temper the overall sense of style conveyed.
“InGessato con Stile is a cute play on words, or a pun” Alessandro Cantarelli tells us (‘in gessato’ meaning ‘pinstripe’ and ‘ingessato’ meaning ‘with a plaster cast’, hence ‘in a plaster cast but with style’). “This pun reflects our philosophy, which is to try to overcome the current general feeling of inactivity or of things having come to a halt”. “Through irony, or wit, we wish to stimulate our customers’ curiosity and suggest they should avoid being conditioned by the difficulties we’re faced with today, and should favour the blend of exclusive style and untrammelled comfort expressed in our new collection”.
This coming together of style and comfort is the true leitmotif of the Cantarelli range. Here, the art of tailoring comes into its own (the finishing work is all by hand). Please note also the decidedly low-key cut of the coat, the variety of the solutions adopted for the jersey cloth, and our use of garment-washing and -dyeing. Alessandro Cantarelli adds, “A requisite our customers have always insisted on is absolute top quality - combined, however, with an equally absolute commitment to research and innovation”. “We are therefore under a moral obligation to satisfy our customers, but we must also surprise them”. “It is with these imperatives in mind that, for 2009, we dedicated a huge amount of attention not just to the cut but also to our yarns and fabrics - our aim being, ambitiously, to place our tailoring traditions at the service of what we call the new Natural Comfort. Comfort as a prerequisite for our items featuring exclusive jersey fabrics, produced only with natural fibres, to provide wearers with eye-catching solutions which also embody the comfort and warmth of a second skin.”
So, for our Autumn/Winter 2009 collection, Natural Comfort represents a new, exclusive standard for male elegance. Cantarelli exploits a sense of irony to underscore the pleasure element – with the accent on the sheer ‘wearability’ of its strikingly original creations." ~ Cantarelli web
Faconnable By Brittany West - Monday, December 07, 2009
"It all began in the south of France, in a small tailor’s shop on the "rue de Paradis, Nice”.
In 1950, with the French Riviera as his backdrop, Jean Goldberg created a family business based upon the principles of craftsmanship and passion of quality. From this origin the FAÇONNABLE brand was born, its name coming from the verb "Façonner”, a French word meaning "to fashion”.
Jean Goldberg acquired his reputation on the Riviera thanks to his exceptional talent which quickly attracted, not only the fortunate visitors of this international paradise, but also actors in search of evening wear during the International Film Festival in Cannes. His son Albert worked beside him and learned the inestimable know-how deserving of a great Master Tailor.
After visting New York during the 1960', Albert Goldberg became eager to invent his own vision of menswear. The Sportswear Chic was born. It was at that time that Albert Goldberg took over his father business and launched his first full line collection. Since then, the colors of the Riviera, sumptuous fabrics and timeless elegance influence each FAÇONNABLE collection.
Albert Goldberg developed FAÇONNABLE by establishing boutiques in keys cities across France, Belgium and Portugal. At the same time, the strong appeal of the brand to International wholesalers lead to the rapid expansion of the brand, now available in more than 500 retail outlets worldwide.
The acquisition of FAÇONNABLE by M1 group, a diverse holding investment organization, marks the beginning of a new era for the brand.
M1’s long term vision is to increase brand equity through building upon FAÇONNABLE’s formidable heritage and outstanding craftsmanship.
More than ever, FAÇONNABLE takes the greatest of care in the selection of its raw materials and the manufacturing of its collections.
Authenticity, instinct and talent, the values at the heart of FAÇONNABLE, continue to express the signature of "modern elegance”." ~Faconnable web
Luigi Borrelli By Brittany West - Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Century of Perfection
"Devoted customers to the century-old Borrelli menswear label include famous names such as Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Harrison Ford, and Richard Gere. Al Pacino owns nine of the design house's distinctive overcoats in a variety of colours, and Tommy Hilfiger is also a loyal customer. On the screen, Oceans Eleven featured screen idols Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Borrelli suits throughout the whole movie - take a close look next time you hire the film - you'll recognise the distinctive cuffs on both jackets and shirts.
The history of the company is a fascinating one. In 1900 Anna Borrelli started making and selling shirts, first from her home in Naples, and then from a small atelier she ran with help from her son, Luigi. This brand, once a favourite of the well-dressed Italians of the 1900s, is one of the last in the world to remain committed to fully hand-made garments.
Luigi Borrelli is a fashion house with a difference. Carrying the crest of the Italian royal family, and housed partly in the family's residences in Naples, Borrelli remains under the direction of Anna's grandson, Fabio Borrelli, a fashion leader in his own right, who boasts 200 suits and 300 pairs of shoes in his personal collection.
Borrelli suits are the choice of the truly discerning. Though the company employs 800 people and has been around for more than a century, many people are unaware of the name. This reflects the fact that, unlike many high-gloss, big-name competitors, the Borrelli family spends no money on advertising or on camera-friendly runway shows with supermodels. Fabio Borrelli prefers to invest in quality fabrics and workmanship rather than magazine advertisements and Paris fashion parades, and as every coat, suit, and shirt is completely hand-made by master tailors in Naples, supply is carefully controlled. In a world of computer-programmed manufacturing and mass production, the work that goes into a Borrelli garment is truly mesmerising. In Naples, the master tailors continue to cut suits by hand.
Luigi Borrelli and his wife continue to live in the Borrelli estate where all production takes place. Often they invite staff to share coffee and antipasto during the working day. The intimate approach of a family business has always been the hallmark of the label still continues today.
Ties are hand-made using fine silks. Laborious traditions characterise this company. Armholes are still stitched by hand, as are all buttonholes. Six hundred shirts are hand-produced each day- in a process that is unique in its combination of human skill and volume.
Often when new stock arrives in-store, it still carries a light scent of tobacco, a reminder of the cigar-smoking tailors who make the garments. Visitors to the factory comment on how cheerful the staff are - a stark contrast to many of today's fashion industry practices.
The world of Borrelli is hard to really get across in words. You need to sense the snipping of the shears, the steam of heavy irons, and the fastidious movements of hands as they sew, embroider, bast, and shape. Borrelli embodies a philosophy of luxury created by human hands. A philosophy that makes absolute quality its top priority."
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