Brunello Cucinelli debuts his documentary feature film with an epic party at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios with Jeff Goldblum, Jessica Chastain, Chris Pine and more; Miu Miu sponsors the premiere of “Atropia,” which got its start as a Miu Miu Tales short film; and Gap teams up with Los Angeles beauty brand Summer Fridays on loungewear to match lip butters.
He Came, He Saw, He Conquered
Italian designer Brunello Cucinelli premiered his legacy-defining documentary feature film “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” in the eternal city of Rome last week, with an epic Cinecittà Studios screening and black tie gala that elevated the fashion film genre to new heights.
Hollywood stars Jessica Chastain, Jeff Goldblum, Chris Pine, Ava DuVernay, Jonathan Bailey, Édgar Ramírez, Kyle MacLachlan and more walked the Brunello-beige carpet, joining hundreds of friends of the house at the studio where “La Dolce Vita,” “Roman Holiday,” “Cleopatra” and many other famous films were shot.
Cucinelli, 72, who has spent the last 47 years growing a small collection of colorful cashmere sweaters into a publicly traded, multibillion-dollar luxury brand, commissioned the film about his life and philosophy of humanistic capitalism, tapping Oscar-winning “Cinema Paradiso” director Giuseppe Tornatore and Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani.
They worked on it over three years, and the result is a hybrid documentary/scripted film. Cucinelli himself appears as an onlooker throughout, while actors reenact chapters of his life, starting with his upbringing in a poor but loving rural farming family near Solomeo in Umbria, Italy, without electricity or running water and often lacking enough food. (During filming, he bought the property featured in the film where his family worked as tenant farmers so it could be used for the production.)
Interspersed throughout is interview footage from high-powered friends including Oprah and Patrick Dempsey, family members, priests, company executives and fashion industry insiders.
Card playing is used as a storytelling device to take viewers on the journey with Cucinelli—playing the game, learning how to read people, work with numbers, find luck and gamble, which he did a lot on Scopa at the local bar before he got a real job.
Of course, those skills were also useful in business. And even though Cucinelli didn’t have much interest in college, he became a self-taught student of philosophy who still peppers his speech with the wisdom of the ancients. He also became a bibliophile and is currently building a Universal Library at his company campus in Solomeo with half a million volumes.
His wife, Federica Benda, is the comic relief in the film, teasing about how her husband always gets his way and how her parents were not on board with her dating a deadbeat who pursued her on his motorcycle.
Cucinelli may not have had TV as a child, but he is a natural performer with a healthy sense of himself — enough so that he relished playing Jesus Christ in the local passion play as a twentysomething. (The production team tracked down a local blacksmith’s ’70s-era camera footage to prove it.)
“We were acting always at the bar, and it’s an Italian thing to be a performer,” Cucinelli said, explaining that his first fashion trade show in Germany involved quite a lot of performing, faking demand until he created it, selling 11,800 cashmere sweaters on his first day.
New York was key to the success of Cucinelli’s brand with Barney Pressman picking up the line early for Barneys New York, and the Italian designer opening his first standalone store there.
As his career developed, so did his thinking about the dignity of work. Seeing firsthand his father and brother demeaned in factory work during their lives, he set out to build his company with people in mind, paying them above market wages, and giving back by transforming Solomeo into a cultural eden with his largesse.
“I always believe the worker needs better workplaces, better wages and they also need to be treated as thinking souls,” Cucinelli said of his philosophy of conscientious capitalism.
It’s a flattering portrait, but the designer didn’t intrude on the filmmaking process, and actually didn’t change a thing once he saw the final cut, Tornatore said.
After the screening, guests strolled to dinner through Cinecittà’s Ancient Rome set, which recreates the Roman Forum and temples. Under the classically decorated tent, 100,000 books were brought in as set pieces, referencing a shot from the film poster. Bowls of paccheri and other Italian delights were enjoyed by all.
The film is out this week in Italy and will be released in the U.S. sometime next year, following premieres in New York and L.A. It’s TBD whether they’ll bring the Roman Forum set with them.
Miu Miu Has Its Own Film Legacy
Meanwhile, in other fashion-film news, Miu Miu sponsored the New York premiere of “Atropia,” the feature adaptation of director Hailey Gates’ 2019 short “Shako Mako.”
It’s a triumph for Miuccia Prada’s Italian label because the film was originally part of Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales, the longest-running commissioning program for female-led short films. In other words, Prada has been in the game of supporting film since 2011, and don’t you forget it.
The cast includes Alia Shawkat, Chloë Sevigny and Callum Turner, so of course his fiancée Dua Lipa was there, along with an extended NYC cool-kid crowd, including artist Rama Duwaji, who is married to New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
In “Atropia,” Shawkat plays an overcommitted actress caught in a military-run simulation of a Middle Eastern village. The premiere after-party was a quirky-stylish recreation of that world, including a step-and-repeat in front of a Porta Potty (you’ll have to watch the movie to see why), Middle Eastern food and music.
The film took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be in limited release starting Dec. 12.
Uniqlo Lands on 3rd Street Promenade
Back in L.A., Third Street Promenade has not been in the fashion conversation for ages, but Uniqlo is changing that.
The Japanese retailer teamed up with filmmaker and photographer Luke Gilford to toast the opening of its newest Uniqlo store on the Santa Monica shopping thoroughfare, with a celebratory dinner at Rustic Canyon last week.
In addition to the brand’s simple and chic clothing for men, women, and children—including artist-designed tees, flannels, and Pufftech jackets—the store features a Re.Uniqlo in-store clothing collection program, allowing customers to bring in and donate gently used clothing for people experiencing homelessness in the community. Clothing collected from the store will be donated to the Los Angeles Mission.
It also has a Re.Uniqlo Studio, offering on-site repairs to Uniqlo clothes, as well as customizable embroidery and monogramming, including some L.A.-exclusive embroidery designs.
Uniqlo, 1431 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California 90401
Match Your Sweats to Your Lip Butter
Continuing its streak of collaborating with buzzy brands, Gap is pairing with cult-favorite L.A. beauty purveyor Summer Fridays on an apparel collection of cozy essentials just in time for holiday sloth season.
The 20-piece collection includes a Summer Fridays logo hoodie, soft fleece sets, matching pajamas and giftable accessories like CashSoft socks and headbands “designed to celebrate everyday self-care as the ultimate form of self-expression.” The pieces come in Summer Fridays’ signature Lip Butter hues – Pink Sugar, Cherry, and Vanilla – as well as the iconic Jet Lag Mask blue.
Actor and model Barbie Ferreira stars in a campaign film cleverly reimagining the act of getting ready—to stay at home. The collab launches Dec. 12 at noon on Gap.com and in select Gap stores across the U.S. and Canada. It also feels like a teaser for Gap’s own beauty brand, coming in 2026.
To celebrate the collaboration, the Gap store at The Grove will transform into a gifting pop-up on launch day, with sweet treats, custom embroidery, an interactive charm bar and an appearance from campaign star Ferreira. You’ll have to come out to get outfitted to stay in.
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