Italian Designer Brunello Cucinelli to Receive Neiman Marcus Award – WWD

MILAN — For Brunello Cucinelli, personal relationships are the foundation of any business.

He believes that being selected as the recipient of the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion is a consequence of the years of “human contact” with the store’s buyers.

In an interview at his Milan showroom, Cucinelli attributed the recognition to his commitment to making a yearly trip to Dallas as well as his steadfast support of Neiman Marcus Group through its financial troubles.

“Neiman Marcus helped me grow my business in the U.S and in the rest of the world, it’s a beautiful collaboration spanning more than two decades — I should be giving an award to them,” quipped Cucinelli, wearing his signature white corduroy pants, white shirt and blue blazer.

Cucinelli is being recognized by Neiman Marcus for his influence on luxury fashion and his social and environmental initiatives. The award will be given on March 4 in Paris during the city’s fashion week. Additional events are planned in Dallas in April and in Los Angeles in October.

This is the first award bestowed by Neiman Marcus since 2016, when the recipient was Carolina Herrera, preceded by Karl Lagerfeld in 2013. Before them, other awardees include Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior and Estée Lauder, among others.  

It is inspired by the cultural heritage of Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus and by the Neiman Marcus Award created in 1938.

Cucinelli said he found out about the award from Neiman Marcus Group chief executive officer Geoffroy van Raemdonck, who called him last September. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said Cucinelli, who speaks French with the executive. “I was aware of this award but I would never have imagined I could be the recipient. And I know this is the result of all that we do together, the way we work, the human relationship we have forged, and my belief in human capitalism and the moral and economic dignity of work,” said Cucinelli.

It is not all about looking back, though. “We have long-term plans together,” he mused.

Neiman Marcus started to sell Cucinelli knitwear in the fall of 2000. Two years later, Karen Katz, former president and CEO, and Jim Gold, former president and chief merchandising officer, began to ask Cucinelli to deliver total looks for women.

Menswear followed around 2004 after Burt Tansky, former Neiman Marcus Group president and CEO, saw Cucinelli at Pitti Uomo. “He admired the way we presented the menswear collection at Pitti in Florence and also my personal style. He and his team felt it would be great to bring the men’s collection with that same presentation to their stores,” said Cucinelli.

At the moment, womenswear represents 70 percent of the business done with Neiman Marcus and Cucinelli believes “there is so much more potential in menswear” with the store.

In 2015, Cucinelli was asked to design exclusive collections for Neiman Marcus, kicking off with a “blue range,” followed by the Art of Travel, Safari, Spa and Dream of an Italian Summer.

Last summer, Cucinelli and Neiman Marcus created the Muse of the West collaboration, which paid tribute to the American West.

Marketing initiatives including a look book and a first-time video with Carolina Cucinelli, co-creative director and copresident of Brunello Cucinelli, and her sister Camilla, co-head of the designer brand’s women’s style team. It culminated with a dinner and fashion presentation for VIP customers and influencers spending a day at the 100-acre RoadRunner Ranch in Dallas on Oct. 13, mingling with Neiman’s executives, Carolina Cucinelli and ranch hands.

The exclusive collaborations continue, as Cucinelli will launch the Neiman Marcus Icons men’s and women’s collections for next spring to celebrate the awards. Each piece will have an exclusive label and will be sold in selected stores.

Cucinelli also spoke of his ongoing support of Neiman Marcus through its financial struggles, as it had to manage an overload of debt until it went bankrupt in 2020, was restructured and got new owners through an exchange of debt for equity, achieving a healthier balance sheet.

“I’ve always had a beautiful relationship with Neiman Marcus, but it’s become even better recently. I think this is because I understood how difficult it was for them and I was close to them in times of trouble,” said Cucinelli. “I realized that the debt was caused by a financial operation, it had nothing to do with the business because this is probably the most beautiful department store in the world. They are true luxury.”

The Neiman Marcus Group had been owned by Ares Management LLC and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which together bought the business for $6 billion in 2013. With the bankruptcy, the major creditors — TPG Capital, Pimco and Davidson Kempner Capital Management — are the new owners.

“I have never asked for discounts, insurance on credit or absurd markdowns, and I think this also helped to cement our relationship. We delivered as usual, behaved normally. We simply could not believe in the most beautiful store, we were sure someone would buy it. It’s a path we walked and continue to walk together,” explained Cucinelli.

Neiman’s is part of the Neiman Marcus Group, which includes Bergdorf Goodman as well as Horchow and a stake in Fashionphile. Farfetch has a minority equity stake in NMG.

Cucinelli has repeatedly voiced his belief in the wholesale and multibrand channel as a soundboard and an inspiration for the brand’s own retail network.

Also, Cucinelli every year in April prior to the pandemic would travel to Dallas with his team to meet the Neiman Marcus management. “I think it’s a sign of respect and I always bring back with me indications about the American culture. These trips help me to educate myself.”

The exchange is a two-way street. In 2018, Cucinelli invited 50 Neiman Marcus associates to spend four days in Solomeo, the medieval hamlet he restored and that is home to his headquarters, so that they could see firsthand the company but especially his commitment to the territory, his restoration projects, and how the profits from their business were contributing to make these projects become a reality.

“It was important for me that they would have a chance to breathe the atmosphere from the town and meet the employees,” said Cucinelli.

Today, Cucinelli is present in about 36 Neiman’s doors with the women’s collection and 27 with menswear, addition to the online business.

In 2005, he opened a door in San Francisco, which helped to reach out to the all-important Silicon Valley customer, a strong cluster for Cucinelli.

The team of Gold and Katz decided to give more important spaces to Cucinelli, he noted, with hard shops in premium positions, often near Chanel. “This was an important step in growing the business and being able to present the collection in a complete way.”

Cucinelli has fond memories of his first trip to the U.S. in 1986, walking around New York at sunset, “fascinated by the city, stopping to see the skyline from the Verrazzano bridge like a kid. I was convinced that, to be successful, you have to be well-known in the U.S.”

He remembered the late German retailer and fashion entrepreneur Albert Eickhoff, who helped him connect with the American market. In the U.S., Cucinelli started selling a few pieces in 1986 in stores such as Louis of Boston, Maxfield, Ikram and Alan Bilzerian and Alan Austin in Los Angeles.

He also did not forget the retailers that have helped him along the way, such as Peter Rizzo, Robert Burke, Ron Frasch, Joe Boitano and Yuki Kasuda, the men’s buying team at Bergdorf Goodman that believed in his men’s aesthetic and helped to showcase the product as a total-look lifestyle brand.