We’ve covered Sydney’s most expensive coffee and its most expensive house sale, but in Australia’s richest city there’s one thing that preoccupies the minds and wallets of the well-heeled like nothing else: looking the part. Lucky for them, one of the world’s most luxurious and most expensive menswear brands has arrived in New South Wales.
Set to open doors bang smack in the middle of Martin Place later this month, the Brunello Cucinelli flagship boutique will become a haven for those with a taste for the finer things in their sartorial life and likely foreground the cashmere pieces for which the brand is most famous before building out into the newer elements of their collection.
WATCH: The greatest fashion faux-pas in Italy.
Founded back in 1978 by the eponymous designer, the Italian fashion house is known for its incredibly high-end fabrics and timeless approach to design. Though by no means lacking in enthusiastic customers, the brand enjoyed a welcome bump as the “stealth wealth” style trend took hold as its commitment to classic block colours and elegant patterns over heavy-handed branding played perfectly into this idea.
Take its new Pilot Jacket as a prime example: it’s a classic menswear silhouette that has been cheaply reproduced by every brand and their dog, but Cucinelli elevates it to a whole new level with top-of-the-line materials and a clutch of detailing that high street brands seldom even consider… but the price tag unsurprisingly reflects this: it comes in at a cool A$16,960.
Their sweaters tell a similar story: a Jacquard sweater is a must-have in every man’s wardrobe. Crafted from alpaca cotton and wool, Cucinelli takes a style that may be considered frumpy by some — the kind of thing you might wear to your grandma’s on Christmas Day — but adds a level of sophistication that makes you right at home in the most expensive and indulgent ski lodges Europe has to offer. Retailing at A$3,830, you’re likely booked in already.
While the prices may be admittedly eye-watering, the brand’s commitment to sustainability is so inspiring that it may win your heart and even induce a few tears of its own. Taking seriously the fashion industry’s wasteful approach to resources long before anyone else in the luxury sector, Cucinelli is just as committed to treating the people in his supply chain sustainably as he is to the threads they produce.
Cucinelli shares a fragment of his broader philosophy online:
“In the great “Universal History” by Ibn Khaldūn, an Arab thinker from the 14th century who for Middle Eastern culture is deemed as important as Dante and Shakespeare in the Western world, the concept of “fairness” is treated in a way that is totally applicable to us. It’s a value that I’ve known since my childhood, because it was always present in the farmers’ prayers for a fair harvest.”
Brunello Cucinelli
Evidently as committed to good thought as he is to good design, we all stand to learn a lot from Cucinelli, even if we stand to lose a fair few dollars as well. Never, however, has 16,000 dollars looked better than it does in this man’s hands, and the same can well be said for his customers too.