Berluti
by Tom Stubbs14 January 2009 - Online exclusive
Although from an Italian descent, Berluti has been a feature on the Parisian sartorial landscape since the turn of the 19th century. Alsessandro Berluti left Italy to work as a bootmaker. From 1985 to 1906 he honed his work in Paris, seeing shoes as an artistic expression, pushing boundaries of the imaginable. He opened first shop on the Rue de Mont Thabor in 1928. Olga, his great niece continues the quest, inventing new shapes and ways of colouring and finishing leather.
Berlutis shoe have a unique handwriting, not only in colouration and finish, but in form. The Warhol penny loafer is a classic Berluti shoe, born out of liaison between Andy and Olga. Other style bare scars and details that have been inspired by piercings.
Some simple lace ups with a pert chisel toe might boast subtle purple and blue colouration with mottled texture, while a co-respondent brogue might be vividly vibrant in burnt umber and red. Anything appears to be within the realms of the craftsman employed here. They frequently completely change the colour of shoe as desired for customers.
Ready to wear business does well for Berluti. However during mens fashion week in Paris June 2008, Olga put on a unique menswear show to mark the launch of her new bespoke line. Deep in the heart of Le Marais we assemble in the decorous Hotel Libéral Bruant for the show. It was a rather special moment if footwear, and the Berluti faithful and gathered press were double impressed.
I spoke to Olga the previous day.
Why are you returning to the old value of Berlutis bespoke origins?
The core of my clients, the elite, were frustrated. They felt abandoned, and that the ready to wear was receiving the creativity newness. The young were impatient, and a two year wait impossible. I was waiting for the tenacity to be quicker, so the same craft, but quicker and with more creativity.
Which is more important craftsmanship or creativity?
Neither. To satisfy the client, the craft could be perfect, the creativity perfect, but if I haven’t understood the exact desire of the customer, it is not a success. Yes, new techniques. Yes, new creations, but you have to remember the light in the eyes in the customer when he receives his shoes. That is the reward.
How do you read desires when not an expressive person?
Nothing is more easy. I’ve been at the feet of men for 40 years. The biggest reward is that the men would desire another pair.
Do clients need to know about process, the history?
The client of yesterday, the bore, the pedant with pretension wants to know everything. The real king, the knight, wants an emotion. He’s not interested in number of stitches, or how the cow was fed. He just wants the emotion. They buy emotion, they don’t buy technique.
Is that emotion lacking from modern life?
Of course. There is too much multiplication.
Luxury is changing. Which is more important, infinite choice or connoisseurship?
Its very cultural. An exceptional man, say Italian, could have culture behind him and be precise and be requesting a great deal. An English or Japanese man , maybe French, they really want something uniquely thought out for them. But tomorrow this request will also come from India and China, Because the desire is changing. The Russians are still in the learning period. When you come from the mass you want to be unique. If you already there, you want everything, you’re very greedy. With time, the man who is greedy in his twenties bit by bit concentrates himself, finds himself.
Define the new line of bespoke.
Classic, creative surrealist.
Thank you Olga, something for us all to aspire to there. I’d be happy with two out of three quite frankly.
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