GIOVANNI BIANCHI GIVES US A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT HIS NEWEST CAMPAIGN
This fall, Italian luxury brand Luigi Bianchi Mantova set its sights on doing something different. For its newest fall campaign, Lubiam CEO and style director Giovanni Bianchi made the decision to shoot his newest collection in black and white. Now, this may not seem like a huge deal, but it was a very-first for the brand to shoot its campaign in this manner, and it served to fulfill a deeper meaning behind the inspiration.
“I started by looking at black and white portraits of actors in the 1950s,” Bianchi tells MR while describing the inspiration behind this campaign. “If you look at those photographs, they have a deep, powerful impact. They are very expressive, intense, and representative of their era. They are like a close-up on people’s souls, thoughts, and hopes. We wanted to recreate this expressiveness and showcase a profound portrait of a gentleman of our times.”
The brand accomplished this by using the same techniques that were popular during the height of film noir. “The use of lighting and the visual approach of the film noir genre was quite an inspiration,” says Bianchi. “The light-and-shade contrasts typical of this form of storytelling create a very dramatic atmosphere and help to visualize the essence of the characters.”
For Luigi Bianchi Mantova, this technique helped in focusing both on the fall/winter ‘20 gentleman – portrayed by French model Adrien Sahores – and the fabrics, the textures, and all the details of the collection.
In planning this campaign, Bianchi notes that he and his team thought a lot about how the concept of masculinity has evolved. “We wanted to represent a man who is the symbol of his time, who is embodying the contemporary attitude of the gentleman, a man who is cultured and has demanding tastes, loves beauty and prefers a sophisticated, timeless style; a man of character, who consciously chooses luxury and knows how to recognize and value excellence,” Bianchi maintains. “This is the man we wanted to portray, someone capable of embodying the values of the Luigi Bianchi Mantova brand: craftsmanship, heritage, sartorial luxury, and excellent quality, since 1911.”
As for the fall/winter 2020 collection itself, Bianchi calls out one of his brand’s most functional suits as a highlight this season. “We have worked relentlessly thinking about what men need today from their garments,” says Bianchi. “Clothes should be catered to those who wear them. We have created a selection of suits and jackets with a significant technical component, made of extra-fine, eco-friendly, and super stretch wool, a high-performance fabric that is adaptable and lightweight, in addition to being also stain, water, and crease-resistant. If we had to choose one, we would go with our mélange suit in water-resistant stretch flannel with a diagonal pattern. With its unmistakable urban style, it’s the perfect choice for every occasion. It can be paired with its matching vest as well.”
Bianchi also mentions this season’s coats as a highlight. The models the brand loves the most are the ones that revisit classic patterns like houndstooth, Prince of Wales, and madras. “Our must-have among the coats is our pure wool and cashmere lined sports coat with a maxi houndstooth design in grey, dark brown, and dove grey, a perfect match for a classic flannel suit,” he added.