JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING: Amalgamated Luxury Edition

Critical Shopper Jon Caramanica seems to be continuing a luxury tour of sorts in today's Thursday Styles. Last month he checked out The Armoury in Tribeca, and today he heads to Madison Avenue to see the lavishly expanded Berluti flagship store that opened just before Fashion Week. He notes that the brand is not new to New York, but as is inevitable for any hyper-expensive, artisanal shoe and accessory label owned by a luxury group (LVMH in this case), Berluti is now being expanded to a full "lifestyle" brand including casual apparel and bespoke tailoring —which was accomplished in part by absorbing the otherwise unrelated and highly respected Parisian custom tailor Arnys. While the results are opulent and the service is impeccable, the evolution has not been without a kink or two. Berluti, apparently, has not fully completed its belated puberty,

So as go the old shoes, so go the new clothes, insane in fabric and detail and price. This is oligarch chic, a combination of clever innovations and tacky design choices, borrowing from Italian and British traditions.

So, not every item is a masterpiece, but some, like those in denim for example, had "an unfortunate luxe rodeo air", and others suffered from inconsistent sizing, "the pants generally too generous, the blazers too slim". But anyone who had hopes for Berluti's triumphant arrival as another place to pour away those extra thousands of dollars burning a hole in their hand-stitched pocket shouldn't be too disappointed. LVMH is playing a long game here. They will work on Berluti until it is the Brioni and Kiton killer that was lacking in the group's lineup of luxury.

Critical Shopper: A Rogue Shoe and Its New Cousins By Jon Caramanica (NYTimes)
Berluti 677 Madison Avenue between 61st & 62nd Streets, Upper East Side