Italian quiet luxury brand Loro Piana held a dinner party in Malibu on October 10th. The purpose was a cozy celebration for its third ‘Cocooning Collection’, appropriately held at a private beachside villa along the Pacific Coast Highway. The collection was showcased in its own room, as a range of leisurewear garments and accessories in natural fibers.

Inspired by an outdoor sound bath, multiple guests were observed kicking off their shoes for a playful frolic in the sand. WWD

The evening was rich in Loro Piana’s preference for neutral colors. In concert with the natural beachside environment, neutrals permeated every visualization from the guests’ attire to the interior design and even table settings.

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The atmosphere was perfectly orchestrated down to Dree Hemingway’s six-month-old daughter holding the mallet for her first sound bath orchestration. No guest was so impolite as to call her a nepo baby, but surely she will have every talent nurtured and developed by this devoted Loro Piana ‘family’.

Sofia Richie Grainge and Jasmine Tookes were in attendance as headliner guests. Grainge, who is adored by millions including AOC, noted that she was quite certain the house was for sale. It is . . . for $30 million, another guest responded.

Matthieu Garnier, Loro Piana's North America chief executive officer, attended the event, along with Patrick Schwarzenegger, American actor and singer Rainey Qualley, daughter of actor Andie MacDowell and sister of Margaret Qualley joined the festivities. Liat Baruch -- who works with Sofia Grainge — was on the scene with the quiet crowd drinking gin martinis before dinner prepared by chef Yann Nury.

If guests were concerned about the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel the prior weekend ‘mum’ was the word. A few guests took home a souvenir from the night: a bottle that could be filled with sand, pebbles and shells, while setting an intention. A calligraphist was on hand to jot down the individual wish into the glass container.

Damien Bertrand’s Haute Couture Approach to ‘Loro’

The fine-tuning evolution around the LVMH brand Loro Piana [called Loro by insiders] is led by chief executive Damien Bertrand, who took the veins of the deeply respected luxury house about two years ago.

Previously, Bertrand was the head of Dior’s haute couture division. He is joined at Loro Piana by Bernard Arnault’s oldest son Antoine who is chairman of Loro [and also CEO of Berlutti].

Speaking with The National in UAE, Bertrand’s approach is not slash and burn — like Kering blowing up Gucci. His is an expansion and even further elevation of Loro Piana that is a “discreet and polished evolution.” Speaking about the elevation of the ‘new’ store in Dubai, the space is doubled, while retaining the atmosphere of a fashionable sanctuary or place for clients to linger.

After all, a founding plank of the Loro Piana brand is centered around being a home away from home for global travelers. The VIP salon is very important in Dubai, but as I’ve noted previously in a Gucci revamp discussion, LVMH is as quiet about these more ‘commercial’ details as they are loud about their artisanship.

The Primacy of Fine Fibers

Bertrand is devoted to the fundamental primacy of the importance of fibers in the Loro Piana story. The chief executive explains:

“We have the best fibres in the world, and this is the work of the Loro Piana family for six generations. These are fibres, and people tend to forget, that come from animals; like humans, if they are eating well, being treated well and sleeping well, the quality of the fibres is better. If you are looking at what we have done at Loro Piana, there is no one else that does it.”

Loro stepped in 30 years ago, to work with the Peruvian government on protecting vicunas. Today the vicunas are thriving and not facing extinction. “Adult vicunas are brought down from the mountains and shaved only once every two years, and one coat requires the fleece of 25 to 30 animals.”

Loro Piana is so exacting in its standards for baby cashmere, linen, vicuna or Lotus flower silk that it controls the production for competitors and acts as a wholesaler.

In the case of the new CashDenim, Bertrand sought to use cashmere as a softener fiber for Japanese denim.

Despite being told it was impossible, he pushed his team to find a solution. The result is a totally new type of denim, with an integrated cashmere lining. “The cashmere is woven on the weft, so when you wear it, it feels amazing – and Loro Piana is about the sensorial experience – we launched last year and everything disappeared in three weeks.”

In Closing

This week LVMH reported a collective 16% growth in the fashion brands for the current nine months of 2023. That 16% organic increase became 11% with currency fluctuations. Focusing on Loro Piana, LVMH wrote “Loro Piana saw strong growth and launched the first capsule collection made with recycled cashmere.”

The biggest revenue challenge for LVMH was in the wines and spirits category, where the aspiring luxury consumer is cutting back on expensive brands. See chart after product images.