How Brioni redefined classic tailoring

The name’s Brioni. Bold, sharp, often stirring — but never shaken. In 1995, the Italian atelier supplied several handmade suits to Pierce Brosnan for his first Bond film, GoldenEye. Costume designer Lindy Hemming — who’d picked the brand for its rare blend of Italian indulgence and Savile Row discipline — later told The Washington Post that only five had survived. “The rest […] were absolutely ruined,” she said.

A tragedy for tailoring, perhaps, but not enough to put 007 off the brand. Brosnan continued to rely on the label throughout his tenure as the super-spy, and Daniel Craig even stuck with Brioni for the film that — in almost every other way — reinvented Bond: Casino Royale. But this film came long after the brand had played its first hand — more than 60 years earlier, in Rome.

Nazareno Fonticoli and Gaetano Savini

The first Brioni store, on Via Barberini

Brioni began in 1945, when tailor Nazareno Fonticoli and his business partner Gaetano Savini opened a menswear boutique on the Italian capital’s venerable Via Barberini. Seeking a name that evoked elegance and exclusivity, they chose Brioni, a reference to the Brijuni Islands — a jet-set haven in the nearby Adriatic.

Success came swiftly. With bespoke garments, handmade shoes and accessories crafted from the finest materials, Brioni attracted aristocrats, diplomats, visiting businessmen and discerning locals alike. In 1952, the house trademarked its first logo, the silhouette of a polo player — adopted more than a decade before Ralph Lauren would do the same.

But that was only the beginning. In July of the same year, inside the opulent Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Brioni staged the world’s first men’s fashion show. Charismatic brand manager Angelo Vittucci showcased over two dozen looks — a cavalcade of saturated colours, indulgent fabrics and modern silhouettes with fluid drapes and softened shoulders. Stiff, boxy wartime suits were out; a new vision of European elegance had arrived.

Angelo Vittucci at the first men's fashion show

The Americans in the audience were captivated, and took Brioni’s designs back home across the Atlantic. Hollywood followed suit soon after, with icons and action stars such as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and Henry Fonda embracing the brand — the Brosnans of their day, exporting Italian elegance to backlots, high-end hotels and film premieres around the world.

By 1955, Fonticoli and Savini had embarked on their own ‘Grand Tour': a series of global trunk shows offering prospective clients a first-hand look at Brioni craftsmanship. Like the trailblazing Florentine fashion show before it, this was another first — redefining how men engaged with and experienced luxury tailoring. (For its 75th anniversary in 2020, Brioni revived these vintage trunks.)

The 1950s were a heady time for Brioni. As the decade drew to a close, and to keep up with burgeoning worldwide demand, the house opened a workshop in the Abruzzese town of Penne. From this outpost, Brioni revolutionised luxury tailoring methods — scaling up while preserving the brand’s hallmark quality and handcrafted appeal.

A Brioni tuxedo sketch from 1958

Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Brioni not only maintained a firm foothold in American menswear, but also emerged as a leader in Italy itself. By the 1980s, the house had established the Scuola di Alta Sartoria in Penne, regarded as one of Italy’s premier tailoring schools. And, when the 1990s arrived, the label had become a finely stitched byword for red carpet style.

It’s no surprise — whether master tailors or movie stars, creatives know great craftsmanship when they see it. And Brioni suits epitomise that skill: each one made using the unique Brioni method, a painstaking process of 220 steps, 7,000 hidden stitches and more than 24 hours of meticulous work. Such attention to detail keeps even the most discerning stars coming back. On red carpets today, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio continue to wear Brioni — and even Pierce Brosnan, despite having retired as a double-O two decades ago.

Pierce Brosnan in The World is Not Enough (1999)

Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006)

But the Bond connection remains Brioni’s most cinematic credential. And, just as Casino Royale reinvented Bond for a new generation, Brioni has itself repeatedly reinvented the codes of men’s tailoring — from pioneering men’s catwalks to masterminding its globetrotting trunk shows.

For, whether on the red carpet or at a high-stakes card table, Brioni has always known how to play — and win — the game.