The Vest Worth Investing In

Recently I watched a TV series called Made in Italy (2019). If you’re a fashion fan and haven’t heard of it yet, I would strongly recommend it. It takes place in Milan in the 1970s. The storyline revolves around a young girl Irene’s professional fashion career development, while it also depicts in-depth the Italian fashion scene and modern women's movement. There's dazzling beauty of costumes and outfits throughout the show. I wouldn’t give out more details here, but trust me, it would be entertaining and enlightening.

Speaking of “made in Italy”, what comes to your mind? Artisan, luxury, flattering shape, or the impeccable tailoring? In my opinion, Brunello Cucinelli is a perfect representation of all these descriptions. It was created by Brunello Cucinelli in 1978 in Umbria and now it’s a very high-end luxury brand specialized in fine knitwear and unstructured blazers. It’s crazy expensive, but the fine quality and timeless design resonates with the high price tag.

And if you dig into the culture of the company further, you will find the founder Mr. Cucinelli is a humanist who has a strong belief in human welfare, value, and dignity. He pays his employee 20% more salary than the industry standard and spends millions of euros to restore the medieval Umbrian village of Solomeo. You might not have heard of the brand, but according to the GQ article (https://www.gq.com/story/brunello-cucinelli-jeff-bezos-solomeo-summit), Brunello Cucinelli has already become a tech billionaire’s wardrobe staple due to their alignment of the aesthetic and philosophy.

I fell in love with this Brunello Cucinelli vest the minute I saw it. I like the flattering tailoring and its unique design of the silk insert. The contrast of the two materials creates an unexpected drama. The refined high-quality beige color wool calls for a classic gentlewoman look, while the lightweight indigo print silk fabric plays around the image of a female dandy. I’m wearing the vest with the matching shorts here when the days are still warm. I can see myself wear it inside of a blazer, or over a white fitted shirt in fall or cold winter weather with a pair of jeans or even tutu skirts. There’re so many styling possibilities with the vest. If you want to up your fashion game, a well-made vest could be a good investment to add layers and colors to your outfit.

I got inspiration for today’s styling from my memories observing stylish Italian women during my pre-covid trips to Italy. Nowadays with globalization, it’s difficult to tell people’s nationality when looking at the street style photos. People who live in metropolitan cities tend to wear sleek black clothes, no matter if it is in London, Paris, New York or Berlin. However, there’s something about Italian women you can always easily spot. Perhaps it is because of its warm climate, when I was traveling there, I remembered seeing Italian women wear a lot of earthy tone colors with their beautifully tanned olive color skin, some golden or silver color jewelry here and there, and always a pair of stilettos even when they walk on cobblestone. The image has some kind of ease and sweetness in it, which we desperately need in this hard year of 2020.