How to Master Italian Style? Ask Luisa
When I first saw a Luisa Spagnoli store, it was on a hot summer day in the glamorous, ritzy center of Florence. I was on my first trip to Italy, at seventeen, and marveling at all the stylish stores I’d never seen before.
To me, this chic storefront symbolized the elegance I saw all around me, in the way Italians dress with care and style, regardless of weather. Is it over 100 degrees out? People are wearing perfectly-fitted button-ups and accessorizing with a well-executed scarf or tie. Is there a torrential downpour? A chic umbrella will cover an effortlessly refined trench coat. We soaking wet tourists in clunky rain boots are no match. Even carabinieri – Italian military police – look dashing in well-tailored uniforms. This is why fashion is still one of the most intimidating things about Italy for me, besides eating spaghetti under the watchful and judging eyes of a lone Italian grandmother.
Today, I don’t have to travel to Florence to find a Luisa Spagnoli to inspire elegant musings. Their first foray into the US market has opened in our very own backyard—Palo Alto’s glamorous Stanford Shopping Center. It goes without saying that Luisa Spagnoli’s legendary eye for detail has not wavered. Stepping into this Luisa Spagnoli store is exactly like stepping into one in Perugia or Milan or Rome—down to the swirling Murano glass chandeliers, the paneling, and the window displays. Even the sales associates are Italian-trained. The distinctly Italian feel of the store will transport you somewhere fabulous for an afternoon—though handsome carabinieri sightings aren’t included.
The Luisa Spagnoli brand is the perfect ambassador of Italian style. The secrets lie in that which makes Italian food so delicious: the quality of the ingredients and the care of preparation. Luisa Spagnoli, the company’s founder, famously began breeding her own Angora rabbits for their fur in the 1920s, and created the first commercial grade angora yarn. Mrs. Spagnoli turned to angora as an affordable alternative to cashmere, which had become too expensive for working-class women to afford. With her development of the angora yarn, Mrs. Spagnoli launched a brand that delivered stylish, well fitting, coordinated designs at an approachable price point.
This year, Luisa Spagnoli celebrates 90 years in fashion and firmly remains one of the icons of Italian style and elegance. Fashion icons from Sophia Loren to Kate Middleton swear by the brand, which is still helmed by a member of the Spagnoli family, Luisa’s great-granddaughter Nicoletta Spagnoli. If you’re counting, that’s four generations—a feat which defies the proverb, “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” the belief that the success gained in one generation will be destroyed by the third.
Nicoletta Spagnoli further evolved the founding concepts of the brand and today creates two collections per year with perfectly coordinated items that create a “total look” and layer beautifully from the inside out to the outside in. Over the generations, the brand expanded from its foundational knits – which still remain the core of the brand – to a broad collection ranging from casual denim to career ware to formal attire. Then, of course, there’s the cut. Rather than hastily cutting a stack of fabrics in a pattern, each item of clothing is cut separately, guaranteeing precision and care.
As a founder of two successful companies, Luisa Spagnoli had the incredible vision to recognize that women’s roles would be evolving and their need for attractive attire at a reasonable price point would increase.
And, looking at the growth and success of the Luisa Spagnoli brand over 90 years, I would say she was right.
By Tatyana Sundeyeva
