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Fans of the quiet luxury trend would have been well advised to look away. On 23 September, The Attico — the womenswear label building a name for its over-the-top aesthetic — staged its first runway show during Milan Fashion Week.
The Spring/Summer 2024 collection consisted of shaggy fur coats in caramel brown, electric blue and zebra print. Models wore oversized blazers belted at the waist and voluminous cargo trousers. Dresses featured signature materials like sequins and feathers. Model Mariacarla Boscono, who walked many of Milan’s shows this week, wore a striking long black overcoat on top of a stretch organza one-piece that featured silver dotty mirrors. They were looks that would make the wearer stand out in any crowd.
Set in the Sempione Park area, the show marked a milestone for the seven-year-old label launched by street style stars Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini. “We are literally on the opposite side of the quiet luxury trend,” laughs Tordini, speaking to Vogue Business from the brand’s studio a week before the show. “The Attico is full of life and colour.”
The brand’s first runway show comes at a time when Milan has risen in importance on the fashion week calendar. Not only is it home to big brands like Tom Ford and Giorgio Armani this season, but heritage houses such as Ferragamo, Bally and Etro have young new talents at the creative helm, making the city an unmissable stop for editors and buyers.
Milan’s influence on The Attico has been undeniable. “The brand reflects a lot of the city. It’s where the brand was born,” says Tordini. She and Ambrosio are not Milanese, but it’s where they have spent most of their lives, working as consultants for fashion brands and magazines. To pay tribute to the city, the show took place outdoors, allowing residents to peer over their balconies. About 350 guests were in attendance and sat on sofas that lined the streets of Via Guerrazzi 1. “We think of the street as a flexible reality. There is a great energy, and it’s where we get inspiration. The street is the stage where things take place,” says Tordini.
The show comes at a pivotal point for the label, which has become more professional in its structure in recent years. In 2018, Archive, an independent company led by former Bain & Company luxury executive Stefano Marcovaldi and controlled by Ruffini Partecipazioni Holding (Remo Ruffini's holding company), took a 49 per cent stake in the brand. Marcovaldi also joined The Attico that year as CEO. The brand now employs 50 people.
“At the beginning, it was just the two of us, so we didn’t have an office. Everything was spontaneous — we were designing everywhere, in hotel rooms, at the factory — and we took care of all aspects of the brand. We were travelling the world, and it was very free. But the growth was getting real, and we had to focus on building the company and creating structure that would support the brand in the long-term,” says Tordini.
A strong point of view
The Attico sets an example for how far an influencer-led brand can go. Before launching the brand in 2016, Ambrosio and Tordini were often invited to runway shows. Their unique dress sense frequently caught the eyes of fashion week photographers, and the duo were able to capitalise on their street style stardom to boost The Attico at launch.
“When we were just starting The Attico, we used our social platforms to communicate that we were launching a new project. We said that it would be a womenswear brand, but there was no transparency about what we were going to do,” recalls Tordini. The designers shared a photo on Instagram of a door with a letterbox, and within a few hours, Net-a-Porter reached out requesting a visit to their showroom. The online luxury retailer consequently became the brand’s first stockist. The Attico also sold its first collection to about 70 retail partners globally.
Other influencer-led brands have found a home in Milan. There is Sergio Rossi, the Italian house owned by Lanvin Group, which has employed influencer Evangelie Smyrniotaki (who also goes by Style Heroine) as its artistic director since January 2022. Armarium, which is building a name for its high-quality separates and is stocked by Matchesfashion and Antonia, among others, was founded in 2022 by former buyer and influencer Giorgia Gabriele, who is also the spouse of Off-White’s former chief executive officer Andrea Grilli. There is also Diego Della Valle’s company Tod’s, which, until last September, had Chiara Ferragni, an Italian fashion influencer with one of the world’s largest fan bases (29.6 million followers on Instagram), as a member of its board of directors.
Ambrosio and Tordini’s starry personalities may have helped to raise awareness for their label, but it’s unlike other influencer-led brands. “The Attico has a strong point of view,” says Net-a-Porter’s market director Libby Page. “We were attracted to its party dresses, which combine glamour and fun with opulent embellishments and flattering silhouettes. It evokes a feeling of nostalgia and extravagance by using feathers, sequins and plunging necklines.”
Among Net-a-Porter’s top-selling Attico styles are the embellished dresses, alongside the clutches and accessories, which help to complete a full party look, says Page. Casual wardrobing, a growing aspect of The Attico in recent seasons, has also resonated with consumers, with the brand’s cotton shirt dresses, cargo pants and denim performing strongly, she adds.
Made in Italy is a focal point as The Attico works with Italian suppliers and collaborators to create the pieces and bring the show together. “We focused on techniques and textures that come from Italian hands as we think they’re the most precious,” says Tordini. While the often feather- and sequin-embellished label tends to be categorised as evening wear, casual separates are a growing part of the business, accounting for 50 per cent — both featured on the runway. New experimentation with textile surfaces was also evident; there were variations of washing, embroideries and embellishments.
Next steps
Today, The Attico counts over 250 global stockists, including Bergdorf Goodman, The Webster and Saks Fifth Avenue in the US; Antonia and Antonioli in Milan; Harrods and Selfridges in London; Galeries Lafayette in Paris; Level Shoes in the Middle East; and online retailers including Matchesfashion and Mytheresa. It also has a long list of celebrity fans, including Margot Robbie, Michelle Williams, Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber. Ambrosio and Tordini declined to comment on annual sales and growth.
Next will be building out its direct retail channels. The Attico has an e-commerce site, although it only accounts for a small portion of sales, according to Tordini. The hope is that the show this season will help to grow awareness and sales as the designers work towards the near-term goal of opening the brand’s first bricks-and-mortar space. “When you communicate through campaigns, it can get detached from the action. It’s important for us to physically show everything that we have been working on so far,” says Tordini.
The Attico’s biggest priority is ensuring its production operates like clockwork and meeting the necessary delivery windows. “We sell collections to buyers in the months of November and May, and at the moment of sales, the collections are under embargo. After that, when we drop the collections in the store, we communicate with digital campaigns so that the marketing is aligned with the delivery of the product,” explains Tordini. “This strategy works really well for us because it pushes the product much more when it can arrive to the final customer. There’s a lot of organisation in a short time, so everyone really makes an effort to be on top of things.”
Expanding the brand’s universe to create more of a lifestyle brand is also a focus. “We have a lot of ideas. We are a womenswear brand that has also done accessories since the beginning. The Attico was never meant to just be about fashion. We want to tap into different worlds and tell different stories,” says Tordini. The brand is primary for both founders, who have put aside their consulting work. “At the moment, it’s our only project in [fashion], and we are fully committed,” says Tordini. But, she adds: “We also don’t want to be closed in a box. We’re creatives, so who knows for the future.”
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