Style
Brunello Cucinelli’s New Hong Kong Store Feels Like a Stylish Italian Apartment and Comes with a Cigar Room
The Italian luxury brand is gently covering the world in cashmere.
BY P.Ramakrishnan  |  March 27, 2023
3 Minute Read
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In the thick of Art Week in Hong Kong, there is a welcome, fashionable interruption to the social calendar—the grand opening of a signature store for Brunello Cucinelli.

Carolina Cucinelli, co-president and co-creative director, attended the ceremony to usher in this important new chapter and space for the Italian maison as Queen’s Road Central was blocked off for the grand unveiling. A lavish opening that saw the subtle and the stylish strut in to view the large new store in the guise of a warm, welcoming home—Casa Cucinelli, as the concept is called—the space was studded with menswear, womenswear, accessories, and lifestyle gear, all in the muted shades, refined fabric, and elegant silhouette the brand is famed for; the pre-opening buzz is unsurprising.

Brunello Cucinelli is having his moment. Earlier this year in Paris, at the famed Place du Trocadéro, Brunello Cucinelli was awarded the prestigious Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion 2023. Bestowed on those who have most influenced fashion around the world since the 1930s—since inception—it’s a high honour that’s been bestowed upon more than 150 luminaries, including Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Valentino Garavani, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, and others in the past. Cucinelli joins an incredible roster, and it isn’t just critical acclaim. Steady sales have elevated the brand in the sartorial hemisphere; Cucinelli is on the verge of hitting a whopping US$1 billion in sales, per Robb Report.

The store itself has a cosy “at-home” vibe, in a typically relaxed Italian atmosphere. As a live jazz band played (award-winning musician Matt Force and friends), local fashionistas and menswear editors were invited into the home-y spaces of the living room, the kitchen with a large dining table, and the cigar room (on the mezzanine floor), all about “the pleasure of devoting time to shared feelings and quality products.” While champagne was served upon entering, Italian staples—the classic Negroni and Aperol Spritzes—were served by the generous barkeep in the main floor. In every nook and corner, skilfully crafted, natural materials stand out—the antique feel of wood, the warm touch of soft leather, and the sinuous shapes of travertine.   

 “It is a great honour for me to be here in Hong Kong to celebrate this new important milestone for our company, the opening of our Casa Cucinelli for all our beloved friends and special guests,” said Carolina Cucinelli, eldest daughter of the famed designer. “To extend all over the world the Italian hospitality and the kind of welcome that my father, Brunello Cucinelli, has always sought to establish in Solomeo is the very foundation of the human relationships that have animated our fashion house since its origins.” 

If the entire retail space feels less like a department store, than the house of a glamorous and elegant friend, well, that’s deliberate.  

“For us, Casa Cucinelli is not just an exhibition space displaying our collections, but an environment to be lived in, to host our friends of the brand for private and intimate meetings, to spend time pleasantly, organise dinners and activities; in a word, to replicate the atmosphere that you can experience in our little Renaissance village of Solomeo.” 

All images courtesy of Brunello Cucinelli, Hong Kong.