The news spread on Saturday evening behind the scenes of the men’s fashion shows of Milanese fashion week: Antonio Cerruti, known as Nino, died at the age of 91 and, with him, it is a part of the clothing history of the country which evaporates. Cerruti died at Vercelli Hospital in Piedmont, where he had been admitted for hip surgery, the report said. Corriere della Serra.
Her life as a fashion designer began on “desperation” which would ultimately turn out to be happy. Nino Cerruti, born on September 25, 1930 in Biella, in northwestern Italy, the cradle of the automobile and textile industry, was forced to abandon his studies in philosophy and his dream of becoming a journalist to enter the rank and take over the family business, specializing in wool spinning, after the death of his father Silvio in 1950. His arm was twisted, but the young man was to combine the expertise of the factory, founded in 1881, and a sense of style that still floods the male look today.
A man of character and good manners, an outstanding entrepreneur, “il Signor Nino”, always impeccable, the parting on the side, dominating his peers with his large size, was endowed with this sprezzatura natural, nonchalance tinged with elegance, a word that he refuted, considering it too turned towards the past, and to which he preferred the notion of style. His entirely aristocratic delicacy largely influenced his fashion, and that of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Marcello Mastroianni who wore his suits with the same casualness.
With Christophe during an anthology concert at the Olympia in 1974
The industrialist launched into clothing design in 1957, in Milan, with “Hitman” (hitman in French), a collection of men’s ready-to-wear. In 1962, a new line called “Flying Cross” was born, still in Milan. In 1967, it was in Paris that he chose to present his creations under the name Cerruti 1881 and opened his first boutique on Rue Royale, at the corner of Place de la Madeleine, in Paris, then a must for world fashion. . Cerruti is the forerunner of the mixed parade, making men and women wear the same outfits, something that is now widespread in fashion.
In July 1968, one could read in the magazine vogue : “Nino has set himself the goal of creating a boutique and a style that is up-to-date but not futuristic to offer men well-made and becoming clothes that do not require any trace of exhibitionism or courage to wear them.” All is said. Cerruti never liked the notion of trends. He sees from his beginnings the quest for novelty as a pitfall in which he does not want to fall. This is called a timeless style, which would earn him praise and later lead to the decline of his label. In 2022, Cerruti is no longer a major player in contemporary fashion. The allure he invented, extricating the male suit from the rigor of bespoke tailoring, which Italy has made a specialty of, has been diluted over time in the gigantism of the industry, flooded with similar creations , which place less importance on the quality of the fabric, the skilfully deconstructed cut, as well as the colors, key markers of the Cerruti 1881 lines. The modernity of the label convinced Christophe to wear his costumes during an anthology concert at the Olympia in 1974, where the singer and his white grand piano rise in the air under the astonished eyes of the public.
Giorgio Armani trained alongside him
Several notable feats of arms have spanned his career, which deserve to see him labeled a major player in the sector. He thus participated in the rise of an “Italian style” in parallel with his activity in spinning, still in operation today in Biella. We also owe Nino Cerruti the flight of another fashion figure who has far exceeded the master from a business point of view: Giorgio Armani, who trained alongside him, taking care of the choice of fabrics – the sinews of war – and of men’s style, from 1961 to 1970, before launching his own label in 1974 (men’s collection), then creating for women in 1975. Other important names have passed through his workshops : Véronique Nichanian (today at the head of the Hermès men’s collections) and Felipe Oliveira Baptista, former creative director of Lacoste then Kenzo.
In the 90s, Cerruti 1881 joined forces with another Italian monument by signing the outfits of the Scuderia Ferrari (1994) Formula 1 team, Jean Todt period. At the beginning of the decade, the creation of an eponymous perfume for men gave it, like many of its competitors, a considerable financial base. Cerruti 1881 has followed the fate of many independent brands. Sold to Italian investors in 2001, it was then sold to an American investment fund (MatlinPatterson) and was finally bought by the Chinese group Trinity Unlimited, based in Hong Kong and which has just been placed in liquidation, which portends a bleak future for the brand. Nino Cerruti used to say that “fashion is a way of interpreting today’s world” (WWD, 1973). The setbacks of his former house are a good illustration of the excesses of the financialization of the now globalized clothing industry. Cerruti himself dedicated the end of his life to the smooth running of the family factory, still standing in Biella, where it all began.