Cult women’s brand Giuliva Heritage launches menswear

The husband and wife duo behind cult Italian womenswear brand Giuliva Heritage are this month launching their first men’s ready-to-wear collection. Margherita Cardelli and Gerardo Cavaliere created their Rome-based brand in 2017 with a collection of six coats. Focusing on classic tailoring and heritage fabrics, the label has since expanded and is stocked around the world. As an indicator of its growing profile, a collaboration with H&M was launched earlier this month.

Menswear was a natural progression for the label, which has always drawn on more masculine elements of design. It’s also a logical commercial extension of Cavaliere’s made-to-measure atelier Sartoria Giuliva. The debut collection comprises 91 pieces encompassing casualwear, formalwear and accessories. When asked to pick his favourite looks, Cavaliere notes a navy-blue cashmere double-breasted blazer finished with gold buttons, which he styles over high-waisted corduroy trousers and a polo shirt. “The challenge is to make three very different textures coexist in the same look,” he says, pointing also to a velvet tux jacket worn over a silk matelassé shirt and grey flannel trousers. There’s also a long, camel-hued cashmere coat that, when “worn with a turtleneck, is a truly timeless Italian statement look”.

Giuliva Heritage’s menswear launch will coincide with a broader project from retailer Mr Porter, celebrating Italian craftsmanship and including some 25 capsule collections from fashion and interiors lines. “We wanted to shine a light on the smaller artisanal partners who are so important to sustaining specific skills and one-of-a-kind manufacturing techniques,” says Mr Porter buying director Sam Kershaw, of the Italian Masters project. Mr Porter partnered with the non-profit Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, which offers an annual apprenticeship programme matching graduates with ateliers and businesses in a bid to protect future generations of craft and manufacturing. The luxury industry makes up 40 per cent of the country’s “Made in Italy” revenue.

Giuliva Heritage embodies this same ethos. It champions traditional craftsmanship via its Neapolitan workshop, and this year launched a Lifetime Guarantee Policy, offering repairs and restorations to pieces bought from its web store or stockists around the world. The practices are testament to the brand’s belief in “timeless style and pieces that, as in the best sartorial tradition, are created to be passed down from generation to generation”. With practice, this new collection might teach you how to mix your fabrics like a real Italian too.