CORNELIANI
Welcome to Corneliani’s world, thanks to Stefano Gaudioso Tramonte: style director of the historic Mantua-based company, who skillfully combines research and design to produce its garments and more…
Who you are and what you do
I am a guy who grew up on bread and textiles, passionate and lucky! For more than 25 years I have been doing a job that I enjoy and that gives me a lot of satisfaction, travelling and being in the midst of ‘beauty’. The commitment and dedication are total, but it’s worth it!
I am currently Style Director and General Merchandising Manager (GMM) of the Corneliani brand and I do everything possible and impossible to keep the brand at the level it deserves to be at and to continue the success story of one of the globally recognized Italian sartorial brands.
What is your company’s philosophy
At Corneliani, we have an exclusive style and a unique, innate sensitivity for Italian refinement and elegance that derives from our origins, our sartorial know-how and, above all, our roots: Mantua. Over time, we have collected and treasured a heritage that combines passion and fine craftsmanship, and thanks to our values and our natural predisposition for excellence we remain true to ourselves, upholding the best of Italian elegance, thus standing the test of time and fashion. Through the best of Italian craftsmanship and savoir-faire, we tirelessly promote our passion for beauty, dressing men all over the world with style and naturalness.
What “elegance” means for Corneliani?
Elegance for the Italian tradition, and ours in particular, means harmony, attention to detail: it is a natural attitude. In fact, the original meaning of the word “elegance” comes from the Latin “eligere”, hence the art of knowing how to choose.
How does Corneliani combine historical icons of the past with a contemporary casual style?
In recent years, men’s habits and the way they dress have changed profoundly, we can be more informal on all occasions; therefore, it is a natural path to adapt our collections to market demand, so that they are increasingly comfortable, innovative and high-performance, while obviously continuing to guarantee the highest quality and sartorial standards. The new universally shared codes also allow us to propose new combinations and interpretations for increasingly contemporary collections in line with new lifestyles.
Corneliani offers the possibility of a total look by combining suits, shirts, sweaters and trousers with accessories. How do you construct complete outfits? Either they more formal or more casual. And how much does the end customer need to be fully dressed?
Every season we start from elements of inspiration that we find throughout the collection and which become our fil rouge; research, from the fabrics to the colour palette, to the study of new silhouettes and proportions, is the constant in the creative process. The fruit of this work is a complete wardrobe that meets the demands and needs of our customers, who are conscious consumers with a distinctive style. At Corneliani, with our collections, we want to go beyond the seasonal and the fashionable, to be the natural choice of anyone seeking Italian excellence and the right combination of heritage and innovation for a proposal that is never banal or obvious. No one needs to be fully dressed but we build credibility by making total look proposals, we build identity and we build ‘style’.
The made-to-measure world: tailoring and excellence at the customer’s disposal for a true experience. How has this way of approaching garments evolved over the years?
The Made to Measure service represents the highest expression of personalization and the desire to offer the customer an authentic, distinctive and never standardizing experience, in which the tradition and value of Made in Italy evolve together with tastes, rhythms and lifestyles.
Strictly based on the principles of tailoring and the perfect fit, Corneliani’s Su Misura begins with a direct dialogue between the customer and the team of skilled professionals who follow every aspect of the service in an exclusive and dedicated manner to offer a unique experience.
In a world that travels at the speed of digital connections with new and increasingly frenetic lifestyles, a complete and impeccable offer of fabrics, patterns and possible customizations, together with the excellence of the hands that “construct” the garments, are the key to today’s made-to-measure service.
From formal to sporty, the lines are essential and versatile, faithful to the Corneliani tradition and its ideal of discreet, casual elegance.
The study of the ‘perfect garment’ is not only proof of Corneliani’s savoir-faire and creativity, but also a symbol of the savoir-vivre of those who choose to wear ‘well-made and made-to-measure’ as an expression of their individuality and elegance.
Sustainability has become the protagonist of fashion collections; you too have presented a themed capsule collection called CIRCLE, which is based on an ethical and aesthetic manifesto: can you explain what it is about?
The CIRCLE project, introduced by the company with the AW20 season, is a capsule collection of garments united by the exclusive use of natural and organic fibers from companies and suppliers that have long since embarked on the path of sustainability, thus responding to the need for a vision of elegance that is no longer only aesthetic but also and above all ethical.
CIRCLE is a stylistic and productive code that symbolizes the cycle of life; it is a path of awareness and social-environmental responsibility; it is a ‘circle’ of people and products through which the brand consolidates its bond with its long-standing customers and with the new generations of eco-consumers, who are increasingly attentive to the nature of what they choose to wear.
Corneliani marries the philosophy of progress and change with a prospective alignment with the methods, certifications and international standards that regulate the compatibility of industrial processes.
The desire to act positively and consciously, offering essential, long-lasting products, implies a natural reflection on unavoidable issues such as the protection of the territory, people’s wellbeing and the definition of effective solutions to reduce CO2 emissions and water and energy consumption, with the aim of decreasing environmental impact and the waste of non-renewable resources.
The ‘circular design’ garments are complete with information tags where the customer can find a specific link to the corneliani.com website with all the information on materials and production partners.