Umit Benan is on a roll
The most happening brand in Milan this weekend is Umit Benan – who has been showing here for almost two decades, but who just accelerated several gears.
A naturally gifted tailor, Turkish-born Benan opened a superb new Milan store on Friday – a rather beguiling blend of stainless steel and mahogany. Located on central Via Bigli 6, right opposite a brand-new Umit Benan showroom, where he showed his latest menswear and a debut women's collection.
Back in 2007, he caused huge waves in Milan with his early 'Turkish gents goes international' collections. This year, however, he riffs on a golden era of Italian menswear – the eighties, with strong echoes of Gianni Versace, and above all, Gianfranco Ferré at their best.
Bankrolling and overseeing this new moment is Umit's new partner Davide De Giglio, one of the founders of New Guards Group, known for holding the license to Off-White, the brand created by Virgil Abloh.
Benan has had his ups and downs as a brand, but never creatively – always managing to dream up distinctive clothes. In the last few years, he concentrated on private clients – which included De Giglio – and it has helped him get a fresh new connection to the final consumer. Other Benan fans include Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro Pascal.
'I have always managed to design to dress real people. Now, everything is much more high-end. My jackets and tailoring are made by Caruso,' underlined Umit, referring to the legendary menswear plant in Parma.
That's upped the price point from about €1,200 to €3,000 for a jacket, and the result is an impeccable finish and hand. Knits are mostly made from yarn supplied by Loro Piana, while some very spiffy leather and nylon reversible jackets are manufactured in the Veneto.
The clothes are classy and stylish but never predictable, more like runway looks than boutique clobber.
'I wanted that '80s silhouette, with a lightly padded shoulder line, like Ferré jackets, but not stiff. Working with top-quality fabrics and 60- or 70-year-old tailors, which is inspirational,' he smiled.
The 45-year-old Turkish designer also showed a new women's line named Umit Benan Paradiso, ideal for St. Barth's or Punta del Este. In an incredible week for Umit's family, his wife just gave birth on Thursday to a baby boy named Kai, joining their two-year-old daughter Maia.
Their family home is amid the canals of Navigli in south Milan, but his business is central. Especially his fab new store, finished with retro-modern steel coffee tables and chairs, great wicker armchairs and Beuys prints, curated by Thaddaeus Ropac.
Underlining faith in the future, his deep-pocketed and experienced partner De Giglio has acquired a 55% stake in the house via D Capital, which also controls Santa Maria Novella, the famed Florentine pharmacy and perfume maker.
'What do I bring to Umit Benan? The most useful thing is the errors of the past in New Guards committed over ten marvelous years. That experience teaches above all what doesn't work,' De Giglio told Milan daily MF Fashion.
De Giglio is on a roll himself, seeing as he helped finance Hailey Bieber's cosmetic brand Rhode, which was just sold for $1 billion.
Next stop for Benan – boutiques in London and Los Angeles. 'But please don't call them stores; they are points of connection,' concludes Umit.
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