Even the Spiders are Beige
by Stella Philip
On March 19th, the Dickinson Fashion Mosaic visited Solomeo, a medieval town that is believed to be mostly owned by Brunello Cucinelli, the man behind the famous “quiet luxury” brand Cucinelli. Quiet luxury is a type of luxury that is more subtle than the usual, with less visible branding and selling everyday work clothes in neutral colors, with $2,000 skirts and sweaters that start at $1,600 (see the two pictures below). Cucinelli provided costumes for the HBO show Succession.
We got a tour of the factory by a worker in the financial office who also deals with public relations. She wore all Cucinelli, and we learned that workers who do jobs with the public receive a stipend so that they may wear Cucinelli. There is no uniform for those who aren’t tailors beyond a business casual appearance, but it is “highly suggested” that workers wear the brand. The factory contained large, hanging depictions of Renaissance art, such as Michelangelo’s most famous Pietà (picture below). Some of the workers did not hesitate to tell us how much they love their job and how happy they are to work there.
We got to touch the famous cashmere that Cucinelli is known for (picture below). The story goes that Bruno Cucinelli himself found the secret to dyeing the highest quality cashmere without changing the way it feels. The cashmere was rich and soft, and as many of us exclaimed, it felt like a cloud.
The Cucinelli town is a short ride away from the factory. It appears to be an ode to humanism. Once we entered the town, Socrates and Aristotle quotes on plaques were displayed on buildings. There was a theater that Brunello made in a classical Roman-inspired look, and it contains the heads of many famous Classical writers, like the head of Cicero pictured on the left. Instead of the classic red theater chairs, the chairs were the Cucinelli Cashmere beige – something that a worker stressed to us when we had a discussion.
And, as we discovered after our visit to his “tribute to humanity” (pictures below) – even the spiders were beige!
This visit was a particularly interesting day to me, Stella, a Medieval and Early Modern Studies major. I’ve studied humanism in depth and can pinpoint all the references Cucinelli makes in his town, however they are all so clearly new. This medieval town looks like something recently constructed for a magazine. I am still not sure now, a few days post-visit how I feel about it!