Corneliani, the Italian sartorial tailoring company based in Mantua, has been quietly modernising its approach to the design of menswear. Founded in the 1930s by Alfredo Corneliani, it made its name in the post-war period making suits and coats for a largely professional clientele.
But some half a century later, changing tastes and fashions demanded that it rethink its core business. Smartly, the firm did not decide to enter the fashion arena, but instead has set about reimagining what its factory can produce. Today, still using its decades-old tailoring skills and expertise in fabric technology, Corneliani offers – alongside its traditional jackets, coats and trousers – a growing range of styles that speak of a more casual approach to dress.
One area of development sees the tailors engaged in making overshirts that function as jackets. Made from a variety of fabrics like a technical wool blend (wool, polyamide and elastane), a linen, wool and mohair mix, or a silk, cotton, polyamide and elastane combination that renders the material stretchy and water resistant, these unlined pieces are highly versatile and perfect for travel – the ideal bridge between smart and casual.
What sets them apart is that they are made in the spirit of, and using the skills of, classic sartorial tailoring, and yet from a design point of view they are thoroughly modern.
To highlight the globe-trotting utility of these pieces, each month Corneliani commissions a photographer, somewhere in the world, to produce an image of one of these “travel jackets” on a wearer, captured in their natural habitat. Pictured above is New Yorker Andrea Trabucco-Campos, who is a graphic and type designer, and partner, at the Pentagram design consultancy. He has done work for many well-known “brands”, such as The New York Times, Noma, the United Nations and Apple.
Trabucco-Campos is quite the world citizen – born in Colombia and raised in Italy, he now lives in Brooklyn. British photographer Jake Chessum, a near neighbour, shot him on the streets of his Fort Greene neighbourhood. Chessum, whose work was this year on show at The Face Magazine: Culture Shift exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, says of Brooklyn: ‘I love the colour of the brownstones here.’ And of Corneliani’s jacket: ‘It’s beautifully tailored and very lightweight. I like that it’s elegant but also relaxed, so it’s perfect for travel when you’re often required to adapt to different situations.’ corneliani.com
WORDS: Eric Walker. Photos by Jake Chessum
