Loro Piana is still Loro Piana

The one from Loro Piana, the luxury brand founded by Pietro Loro Piana in 1924, has always been a clear statement of intent: the intrinsic value of a cashmere garment matters more than a stolen shot of a celebrity in a full look. Its poetic, expressed through tailored cuts, soft silhouettes, and a color palette dependent on beige, echoes the tactile sensation of vicuña, the world's most expensive wool: a whispered IFYKYK (If you know, you know). Those who know (and buy) Loro Piana are aware that they might come across the tag "Uniqlo for billionaires” with the sponsorship of LVMH - it's likely what they desire. At least until recently, before the brand was thrust into a media whirlwind generated by the success of the HBO series Succession, propelled by TikTok's algorithm, and coveted by Silicon Valley venture capitalists. If Louis Vuitton is the most searched brand on Google, what will be the related searches for Loro Piana?

Blame Kendall Roy's baseball cap

To tell the lifestyle and concerns of a billionaire family, accustomed to yachts, private jets, and chauffeurs, an equally evocative wardrobe was needed: maximum spending in economic terms, minimal styling yield at the Roy's home. To paraphrase the words of costume designer Michelle Matland, we could talk about an anti-bling aesthetic made of clothing habits devoid of frills and characters who "obviously" buy expensive clothes and accessories but don't pose. «They can wear a $2000 sweater, but there's no need for a logo or to understand where it comes from. [...] The idea of matching your tie to your pocket square and suspenders is ridiculous. For anyone with real money, that combination would immediately show that they are striking a pose, desperately trying to prove something,» she says. The Roy's shopping guide, like Loro Piana's navy suits made of merino wool, is "The Gift of Kings." From formal wear to swimwear, to the baseball caps that have attracted public attention, the relationship between Kendall Roy and Loro Piana is a secret affair that doesn't betray LP's first rule: don't talk about Loro Piana. The cap worn repeatedly by Kendall, becoming the focus of media attention and web scraping, is not found on the Loro Piana website. The only versions for sale, however, contain something new for an institution of quiet luxury: a Loro Piana logo, sewn in tone-on-tone colors, almost like a watermark but still clearly visible. Loro Piana reports that the logo version has existed since the brand first launched the baseball cap in 2005, «but several people I've spoken to have said it seemed to have been pushed commercially recently, as stores report that LP hats have recently become a best-seller thanks to a new clientele,» writes Jen Wieczner in the New York Magazine. «It's not like wearing a New York Yankees hat,» emphasizes Peter Nguyen, a menswear stylist specializing in tech professionals. «But it has become a kind of flex.» This flex, generated by the media overexposure that the brand has never actively embraced, has partially questioned the narrative pillars of a script that had never considered widespread notoriety beyond 1% of the population.

Silicon Valley Loves Loro Piana

Long before quiet luxury became a trend to follow, Loro Piana was winning over executives from Goldman Sachs and Bill Gates, allowing the rich to appear as such without any form of ostentation. In recent times, the situation seems to have become quite dynamic, breaking the silence that has always characterized LP's editorial line. In mid-March 2023, Loro Piana, acquired by LVMH in 2013, opened a store in the Silicon Valley with a collection equipped with NFTs and blockchain-authenticatable. Then, at the end of August, the turn of Saks: after taking note of the success of the Summer Walk, suede loafers with a white sole much loved in the Hamptons, the US department store chain inaugurated a Loro Piana menswear store inside its flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Nguyen tells the story of a West Village customer working in the cryptocurrency industry who had heard about the loafers (around $1,000) and «went to buy like five pairs. He practically has them in every color,» according to the New York Magazine. Talking about Loro Piana is a bit like talking about «Bentley or Patek Philippe,» explains Jessica Cadmus, former Goldman employee and now a stylist for Laundry Whisperer, specializing in Wall Street and executive clients. «It seems that Loro Piana is on everyone's lips right now,» she says surprised. While venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, with his community of 1.6 million followers, flaunts a Loro Piana VIC feed, and Bay Area tech bros increasingly succumb to the allure of dressing like the top 1% of the world's population, there are those who cannot stomach an exposure they deem almost mainstream. The threat, or at least the internal contradiction regarding the values LP has propagated so far, would undermine the brand's core business: absolute discretion.

The Role of The Gstaad Guy and Gen Z

"Vicuna milk of course" reads a story posted by The Gstaad Guy, a satirical character portraying a resident of the Swiss Alps addicted to Loro Piana clothing. He defines himself as «the highly discreet guy from Gstaad», and his Instagram and TikTok feeds function as a moving still life of LP sweaters, shirts, and outerwear. For a luxury brand not inclined to aggressive marketing and PR strategies, engagement comes from a creator who combines ironic formats, breathtaking locations, and luxurious basic clothing. «Alfred and I felt like taking a trip, so we did some shopping. And now I'm drowning in vicuña – Loro, what are you doing to me?» wonders the British creator in one of his early videos. Entrusting Loro Piana's style office to Costance and Colton, the rich characters of his invention, the brand's positioning seems to slip, between one parody and another, into the misadventures of those aspiring to flaunt their social status, forgetting to speak in hushed tones to an elite without aspirations of common mortals. Sofia Richie, an American model born in 1998, wears a full Loro Piana look with the naturalness of street-style pieces - according to W Magazine, her camel-colored leather bomber, worn in Malibu to celebrate the launch of the FW23 Loro Piana Cocooning collection, would make Kendall Roy jealous.

Gen Z, in other words, has grasped the importance of conceiving a wardrobe that also encompasses timeless items, most often second-hand, focusing on brands like The Row, Bottega Veneta, Celine by Phoebe Philo, and Loro Piana. «Loro Piana was there 20 years ago and will be there in 20 years, regardless of trends. Rather, I believe that recently, young people have finally understood that quality matters more than quantity: they like that our garments are designed to pass from generation to generation. My two children, 20 and 18 years old, have the habit of raiding my wardrobe, yet the way they wear my Loro Piana pieces is completely different from mine. But they are still perfect,» said Damien Bertrand, Chief Executive Officer of Loro Piana, in an interview with La Repubblica. «When Bernard Arnault offered me the job, I said immediately: I would never turn Loro Piana into luxury streetwear. It's not the brand's history,» he specified. While in 2021, Loro Piana did indeed venture into streetwear by collaborating with Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara, the world's softest cashmere is not destined for hype, nor to dress the masses. The fact that a rapper like Tony Effe flaunted a total LP look on TikTok is to be attributed to a script only partially written by the brand: it was the entertainment system that cast LP as the protagonist of quiet luxury. The question, assuming there is one, is how the sequel to this buzz around the Loro Piana universe will unfold. The restoration of silence and a nod of approval in the face of vicuña?