Cifonelli: Sporting elegance

Aware of how people want to feel in a garment, Cifonelli have come up with an extremely creative assortment of accomplished informal apparel. A soupçon of sporty, leisure élan and Riviera elegance administer a utopian mood.

Governed by Paris’s Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, to be eligible for haute couture status, members must own an atelier and employ at least fifteen full-time staff. If Cifonelli were in the business of creating one-of-a-kind ball gowns they would qualify on this count; at their famous atelier at 31 rue Marbeuf, they employ more than forty expert craftspeople. Bearing in mind, this is a workshop of technical magic revered for French couture details including buttonhole stitching. So to have this many highly-skilled artisans under one roof is a truly unique proposition in the world of menswear.

Maison Cifonelli has been in existence before the phrase “haute couture” was ever coined. Admittedly, haute couture history (without the tag) dated back to 1858, but only a nudge over two decades past when Giuseppe Cifonelli founded the firm in Rome. His son, Arturo expanded the business and became the soul of the style and artistry of Cifonelli, eventually opening up an atelier in the centre of Paris’s golden triangle in 1936 – the same iconic rue Marbeuf address, that they work from today.

    Contributor

    Freddie Anderson

    Published

    June 2021

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