Visitors arriving at the Simone et Cino Del Duca Foundation for Berluti’s annual presentation were greeted by a large handwritten quote: “I shall know a sound of footsteps that will be different from all the others.”
So speaks the fox in “The Little Prince,” the classic tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that has been translated into 600 languages and dialects worldwide — second only to the Bible. To mark the 80th anniversary of the first French edition of the book, Berluti has created a collection inspired by the author’s preparatory sketches.
Jean-Marc Mansvelt, chief executive officer of Berluti, said the idea was to celebrate shared values. “What we wanted to convey about Berluti — essentiality, loyalty, transmission — was the very story told by ‘The Little Prince,’” he said.
Even the quote resonated: it was said that Olga Berluti, the footwear brand’s former artistic director, could recognize a client just by his footsteps.
As visitors meandered through the grand 19th-century town house, a fantasy version of Saint-Exupéry’s office — complete with a leather aviator helmet and jacket hanging on a coat rack — was followed by a dark room lit like a night sky, where bags and wallets were displayed in silver orbs, symbolizing the fictional prince’s journey through space.
The line, which will land in stores for the holiday season, encompasses bags, small leather goods and cashmere shawls, as well as a limited-edition Alessandro loafer embossed with a rose. It features the full breadth of the house’s skills, from laser-etched handwriting to stitching, and aquarelle designs made with Berluti’s signature patina.
While the brand no longer shows seasonal collections, it continues to present a selection of ready-to-wear, footwear and leather goods, this time based around a garden theme. Floral embroideries crept up the side of a linen Forestière jacket, while all over stitching added depth to a caramel suede calf leather jacket or a short-sleeved blue tunic top.
The emphasis was on ease, down to the accessories, which included a new buffalo leather version of the Lorenzo loafer, and a squishy bag dubbed the Un Jour-nal, to convey the idea of a rolled-up newspaper carried under the arm.
Aesthetes, meanwhile, will gravitate to the bags flecked with nine different colors, like an Impressionist painting, or the Galet Bloom shoe, whose curved front stitch draws inspiration from the petals of an arum lily. Like “The Little Prince,” the Berluti customer is always seeking poetry in everyday life.
