Brioni in Rome with Matt Dillon

In Rome the Brioni flagship store is in the most famous street for shopping: Via Condotti. The brand is part of Kering group owned by François Henri Pinault. The quality of fabrics and cuts are among the best in the world and they are Made in Italy. For the new Fall-Winter 2019-20 campaign Brioni chose the Hollywood star, Matt Dillon. It is not a surprise because the brand often wears actors on the red carpets fort Golden Globes, Academy Awards, Cannes and Venice.

The campaign has quite a pompous name: Tailoring Legends’ . It has been shot by the New Zealand photographer Gregory Harris in New York. We appreciate the choice of black and white images because they definitly highlight the strong personality of this wonderful actor.

Matt Dillon’s career has spanned for four decades. One of the first movie, made in 1983 was “The Outsiders”. Everyone knows him for a very funny comedy called: “There is something about Mary” in 1998 with Cameron Diaz that was his girlfriend in life for about three years . They broke up the same year, working together was not such a good idea..

He has been in Tv series and videos. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna’s Bad Girl which also stars Christopher Walken. He acted in lots of movies such as “Rumble Fish”, “Wild Things”, “ In &Out”, “Crash” in 2006 ( He was nominated for the Golden Globe and the Oscar for that film), “The House that Jack Built” by Lars Von Trier and “Drugstore Cowboy”.

The campaign presents a selection of the brand’s finest tailoring pret à porter and evening wear. Known for his mysterious allure, some movie critics compaired him to James Dean. In a 1991 a famous movie journalist, Roger Ebert referred to him as the best actor of his generation along with Sean Penn. Originally from New Rochelle, New York, his family is quite artistic. His father Paul Dillon a portrait painter and his grand mother was the sister of comic strip Alex Raymond.

Now He is a 55 years old man and he seemed to be perfect for this campaign of a casual and elegant gentleman. If you want to come to Brioni’s store in Rome with us, write and book on rome@grandtourshopping.com

In Rome for Summer Sales

In Rome Summer Sales started July 7th. To tell you the truth a lot of shops started with pre-sales already one week before. I had the occasion to notice it with Judy, a client of www.grandtourshopping.com the 2nd of July when I took her around for a couple of hours in the morning.

Some department stores, such as La Rinascente, found the “escamotage” : you book the item you like,few days in advance and then you come back to the shop on the correct date which is, as said, not before July 7th. La Rinascente, in via del Tritone, is not far from Piazza di Spagna, the Spanish steps. It is a prestigious big store with a lot of important brands such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel but also with some interesting new upcoming designers such as Numero21 or MSGM. The sales now are about 30 per cent but you are still starting from high prices.

A lot of store managers in Italy explained me that when they launch the sales they don’t exactly earn money. It is only a way not to loose to much. They hope, at least, to get to the break even point on their budget. They hate all the sales on line that compromise their budget.

Interesting streets for sales, in the center of Rome are various. I love to go to Cos and Other stories in via Borgognona where you can also find Sportmax and Stella Mac Cartney. Another gorgeous street is via Frattina with leather goods such as jackets and pants such as Alexander or roman shoe store, extremely glamourous and unique, such as Fabio Santini. Petit Bateau just sent me his invitation for kids clothes.

Don’t miss Carmens or Geox for shoes in via del Corso or via del Babuino with a lot of important stores such as Miu Miu, Gente, Tiffany, Etro and Fabiana Filippi. Take a walk also on Via Condotti where you will find Max Mara, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Bulgari and Tod’s.

You will have a good opportunity to buy nice things in Rome during the sales season. My advise is to get something that you feel like using it a lot. Something with quality. That is why sales are interesting. No need to go for sales on fast fashion.

In Rome with elegant sunglasses

Luca Gnecchi Ruscone is proud to announce that he is opening a flagship store in Rome. His brand of glasses are handmade in Italy. The new boutique is going to open on July 9th in via Fontanella Borghese. It will be the second one in Italy after Milano. “ We plan to open other monobrands in my country- Florence may be the next one- but also abroad” states Luca as the CEO and founder of L.G.R.

Luca is a roman guy, his family has strong ties to Africa. During a trip to Asmara he discovered some vintage models who belonged to his grandfather Raffaello Bini who was running a store called Ottica Bini. He used to import sunglasses from the Thirties to the Seventies. This gave Luca Gnecchi the idea of making sunglasses inspired to this old, elegant models. Through the success of his first collection, entirely handmade in workshops, Luca has been able to recover an ancient know how that was about to get lost. It is not a surprise if a lot of celebrities wear his sunglasses such as Prince William, Kate Hudson, Gigi Hadid, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte and Pierre Casiraghi, Tom Cruise. The interesting thing is that they chose them, they bought them, they were not paid to wear them. It is not a detail to mention it.

This combination of Italy and Africa is in every corner of the store. The wooden furniture and the coconut elements have been carefully manufactured by italian craftsmen. Fabrics and chandeliers have been made in Morocco. The store will show case the Spring-Summer collection. Among the models the Lalibela, with round, wraparound lenses in the style of the Seventies. And what about the Pilot? It is a contemporary version of classic aviator frames.

L.G.R. has been producing eyewear since 2008. They can be purchased online on lgrworld.com but the best thing will be to come with us to explore the new store. Book us asap on www.grandtourshopping.com