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Federica Bonifaci opens Milan showroom, introduces occasionwear

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Nicola Mira

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October 1, 2025

The eponymous luxury womenswear label by Roman designer Federica Bonifaci was set up in 2021. The collections are 100% made in Italy, and are available at some 20 high-end retailers in Italy, Greece, Norway, Monte Carlo and the USA. “The US is a growth market for us,” Bonifaci told FashionNetwork.com. “Our products, despite higher customs duties, are priced affordably and fairly for American consumers. We’re of course talking about the higher end of the market, with jackets retailing between €800 and €1,500. Sheepskin items are priced even higher, as are some special items, like the dress for which we had to use 18 metres of silk,” she added. 

Federica Bonifaci, Spring/Summer 2026

Federica Bonifaci began as a single-product label, its signature garment being capes. The Spring/Summer 2026 collection Federica Bonifaci presented at Milan Fashion Week was its third summer release. It included a new range of accessories, chiefly linked to capes, which now come in more coat-like versions, in an almost occasionwear style. And there was more. “We introduced pleated fabrics, and also used silk crêpe. It’s a multi-layered collection, because I really like overlapping fabric layers,” said Bonifaci.
 
Like many other labels, both established and emerging, Federica Bonifaci is therefore expanding into the occasionwear segment. “In summer, people will either go to the beach, or to a wedding,” quipped Bonifaci. “I previously struggled with beachwear, but I’ve now designed a series of shirt-capes, matched with sailor-style shorts, that can also open up resortwear opportunities for us,” she added. Stripes, silk organza, cotton shirts in longline versions and even lace are featured in the collection, a way to cater to different occasions.

Federica Bonifaci’s Spring/Summer 2026 presentation at the label's new showroom in Via Gerolamo Morone 6 in Milan
Federica Bonifaci’s Spring/Summer 2026 presentation at the label’s new showroom in Via Gerolamo Morone 6 in Milan

Bonifaci is keen to expand her label’s retail footprint, “but I don’t want my brand to become a mass-market one,” she stated. “In the meantime, we have recently moved to a new showroom in Via Gerolamo Morone 6 in Milan, while my monobrand store in Piazza Navona in Rome, such an iconic, prime location, is still active. Also significant is the fact that my label has posted double-digit growth this year. In 2025, I’ve invested plenty of resources on sales campaigns, especially in New York,” said Bonifaci.
 
With the Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Bonifaci has continued to develop her style in accordance with her tastes, harmoniously blending fashion and architecture. Capes, the staple of her design journey, remain the collection’s beating heart. They caress the shoulders, enveloping and protecting the silhouette, morphing into sculptural elements while remaining soft and cocooning. They feature in new variants, from cotton shirt-capes to more fitted single-breasted versions, and even one that is short at the back and longer at the front.

Federica Bonifaci, Spring/Summer 2026
Federica Bonifaci, Spring/Summer 2026

Alongside capes, the collection includes a range of long and short dresses, lightweight tunics, loose summer suits, jumpsuits, bomber jackets, gilets, shorts, miniskirts, corset dresses, and trousers. Natural fabrics such as cotton, viscose, silk, lace, organza, as well as pleated fabrics and sequins, feature in the collection alongside more high-tech, luminous materials, for a romantic-contemporary mood ideal for occasions worth celebrating. The colour palette includes timeless neutrals like white, black, and sheer fabrics, alongside intense hues like lime, pink, teal, sky blue, and red.

Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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Another original Hermes Birkin bag sells for $2.86 million

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December 5, 2025

An Hermes handbag that once belonged to Jane Birkin was sold for $2.86 million (2.45 million euros) at auction in Abu Dhabi on Friday, just months after the record-breaking sale of her first bag from the French brand, Sotheby’s said.

Jane Birkin with one of her signature Hermes bags – Sotheby’s

Hermes first created the design for the British singer and actress in 1984 and it has gone on to become a modern and highly prized classic, sought by fashionistas the world over. The first prototype was sold for 8.58 million euros ($10 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris in July, smashing previous price records for a handbag.

The one sold on Friday was a ‘Birkin Voyageur,’ which was gifted to the former wife of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg in 2003. The final sale price was around six times times higher than the estimated price range of $230,000-$430,000 given before the sale.

“Jane Birkin’s handbag legacy continues to captivate collectors,” Sotheby’s said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that bidding took place over 11 minutes between six collectors. The new owner was a phone buyer and has not been identified.

The handbag was one of four owned by the late celebrity, who used to sell them to raise money for charitable causes. It has a handwritten inscription in French inside from Birkin that reads: “My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion.”

A third Hermes bag owned by Birkin is set to go under the hammer on December 15 at the Hotel Drouot auction house in Paris. It was entrusted by the late star to her friend and biographer Gabrielle Crawford, who is selling it to help fund the future Jane Birkin Foundation, Drouot said in a statement.

Produced in very limited numbers, the modern Birkin bag manufactured by Hermes has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities such as the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, and Victoria Beckham. The most expensive fashion item ever sold at auction was a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actor Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz in 1939, which sold for $32.5 million in 2024 in Dallas, Texas, according to Sotheby’s.

Copyright © 2025 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.



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Mention Me launches AI tool to help brands reach consumers through generative AI search 

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December 5, 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues its march to transform businesses’/consumers’ lives with customer advocacy platform Mention Me launching ‘AI Discovery IQ’, a free-to-use tool that “helps brands reach target consumers in the new age of generative AI search”.   

Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Archives

It claims to allow brands to “instantly audit how discoverable they are within popular AI systems” such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.  

According to Mention Me, 62% of UK consumers now turn to generative AI tools for product recommendations, brand discovery and comparisons, “bypassing traditional search engines entirely [so] businesses are under pressure to respond to this behaviour change,” said  the platform’s CEO Wojtek Kokoszka whose platform works with firms including Charlotte Tilbury, Huel and Puma, “helping marketing teams to boost consumer awareness and sales”.   

With AI, it says the modern customer journey, powered by natural language prompts instead of outdated keyword strings, means consumers are 4.4 times more likely to convert if they find a brand through a large language model (LLM). 

“The rise of ‘agent-mode’ assistants and AI-driven voice search has pushed brands into a new world of digital visibility. Despite this, most brands have little to no insight into how they appear in AI-generated answers”, said Kokoszka.  

AI Discoverability IQ claims to give brands an overall LLM discoverability score, specific details on areas such as technical website elements, content and structured data, and actionable recommendations to improve their AI discoverability.

Its tool generates “measurable, trackable outputs” like AI Visibility Score, brands’ prompt-based results, and a side-by-side comparisons with their competitive set. This means brands “can react quickly to improve their discoverability scores” with Mention Me’s wider suite of products and unique first-party data.  

It’s also “innovating and evolving” its platform to include more capabilities, such as the ability to benchmark against competitors, to drive further improvements for marketing leaders in the age of AI. 

Mention Me CMO Neha Mantri said: “AI Discoverability is not yet a named practice within most marketing teams; the same way SEO wasn’t in the early 2000s. But when up to 31% of consumers say they’re more likely to trust responses from generative AI than traditional search results, this needs to change. Mention Me is naming the problem and providing a solution at just the right time.”  

Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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Crisis pop-up charity store returns to Savile Row with big celeb, brands support

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December 5, 2025

​A host of celebrities and high-end brands have donating goods to ensure Savile Row’s latest annual ‘Pop-Up Crisis’ store will continue to support the Crisis charity event that has so far raised over £650,000 since 2018.

Image: Crisis charity

Across 8-13 December, the pop-up store at 18-19 Savile Row in London’s Mayfair will sell a curated selection of designer clothing, past stock and samples from luxury brands.

Celebs donating goods include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Naomie Harris, David Gandy, Jarvis Cocker, Louis Partridge, Jamie Redknapp and Emma Corrin, among others, for a week-long event and raffle with all proceeds going to help end homelessness across Britain.

Hosted by landlord The Pollen Estate, the temporary shop is also selling designer goods donated by Savile Row tailors including Mr Porter, Wales Bonner, Crockett & Jones and many other luxury brands from Barbour, Tod’s to Manolo Blahnik and Watches of Switzerland Group.

This year, celebrity model and fashion entrepreneur David Gandy will also be curating an exclusive online edit on shopfromcrisis.com, including donations from his own wardrobe as well as items from friends including Redknapp’s brand Sandbanks, Hackett and Aspinal of London.

Gandy said: “Having supported Crisis for a number of years, I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to curate my own online edit this year with the help of some of my close friends. It means a lot to know that donations from my own wardrobe are going towards such an important cause. Whether you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift or to treat yourself, your purchase can help make a real difference to people facing homelessness this Christmas.” 

Liz Choonara, executive director of Commerce and Enterprise at Crisis, added: “Pop-Up Crisis is such an iconic event in the Crisis calendar and one that we look forward to every year. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the team once again for another week celebrating the iconic craftsmanship and style of Savile Row – with all proceeds going towards our crucial work to end homelessness.” 

Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.



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