Ermenegildo Zegna is not a label that has built its cultural cache with heavy-handed branding or flashy logos. Instead, the Italian house has long been a uniform of a certain kind of sartorial member’s club—one where well-heeled men clock the brands each other are wearing based on lapels, cuts, and fabrics, not by visible LV’s or GGs. But this commitment to the understated, it appears, is changing. Zegna has been playing with subtle branding on its Tiziano Sneakers for the past few seasons, and now, it has released a line emblazoned with the same logo, fittingly called XXX.
Though the triple-X logo is a nod to the three classic tailoring stitches on a suit’s lapel, that is pretty much where any adherence to classic codes of tailoring stops. Instead, Zegna has fully embraced streetwear’s decidedly casual aesthetic. The U.S. line (slightly different versions of the collection have been released worldwide, each catering to global tastes and trends), which is available today at Zegna boutiques and online through luxury e-tailer Farfetch, ditches blazers in favor of zip-up sweatshirts, baseball caps, and casual t-shirts. All are emblazoned with graphic XXX’s. Each, of course, is made to the exacting standards of Zegna’s elevated Couture collection—a bomber jacket ($2,450) is done in a silk blend and made to be fully reversible, with a solid burgundy side tempering the black-and-grey logo-covered reverse, and a black-and-orange belt bag ($595) is made of buttery smooth Nappa leather.
Zegna XXX silk bomber and leather sneakers. Photo: Courtesy of Ermenegildo Zegna
This turn to streetwear is nothing new for luxury brands—after all, high profile names like Louis Vuitton, Moncler, and Givenchy, have all turned to it over recent years to capture the increasingly fleeting (and decidedly casual) new generation of luxury shoppers. And yet, for a brand that trades on quiet luxury like Ermenegildo Zegna, the move is surprising. Sure, the sportier styles can be mixed and matched with the house’s classic tailoring. The bold nylon backpack ($995) or ski-inspired windbreaker ($2,450) are nice ways to add a bit of athletics-inspired flair to a suit or worn on their own over the weekend, for example, but the capsule is also a complete wardrobe unto itself.
But who is meant to be wearing said wardrobe? The Zegna devotee’s stylish son? Or the streetwear connoisseur who’s more familiar with Supreme than classic codes of Italian tailoring? Here’s to hoping they both graduate to the brand’s blazers someday.
Sporty separates and accessories from the new line. Photo: Courtesy of Ermenegildo Zegna
