Twinset opens Milan Fashion Week with its first ever show

Milan Fashion Week opened on Tuesday with the Twinset show, as well as a host of parallel events, before getting down to business on Wednesday with the shows by the big houses. For the Italian women’s ready-to-wear brand, founded in 1990, this was its first ever show. For the occasion, it called on all the top models who have best embodied the brand over the past 34 years, from Russian model Natasha Poly to American model and actress Amber Valletta, not forgetting Faretta from Croatia and Franziska Jetzek from Germany. The only one missing was Anglo-American actress Sienna Miller, the label’s ambassador since last summer, who has just given birth.

The result was a successful show that captured the quintessence of the house, blending a bohemian-romantic spirit with a punchy-rock style of biker boots and perfectos, slipped over long pleated dresses, silk maxi babydolls and lace bustier dresses, as well as satin sheaths and gold lurex drapes. Sometimes, these vestal-like outfits are enhanced with a masculine waistcoat. Simple, but effective.

In the same spirit, the Twinset woman likes to combine leather trousers with a bare-shoulder jumper, a ruffled blouse or a little velvet jacket in a total black look or playing on the contrast of black and white. Lara Davies, the creative director who took over in 2018 from Simona Barbieri, who founded the brand with her husband, entrepreneur Tiziano Sgarbi, chose a classic, neutral palette with a few flashes of bright red and golden yellow. Embellishments and prints were banished from the collection, giving way to monochrome silhouettes.

Knitwear, the core business of the house, which has its own factory in Carpi, where it was founded and where one of Italy’s most important districts for this type of production is located, dominated the collection. For autumn-winter 2024/25, Twinset worked with knitwear in all its forms and in the most diverse treatments. Like these sumptuous coats in curly or fringed wool, which looked like fur.
 
Knitwear was everywhere, making up almost 70% of the wardrobe, produced on the company’s own looms. You’ll find it in colourful ensembles, made up of mini-shorts and a polo shirt in an ultra-soft texture, but also in transparent lace dresses, or in endless asymmetrical knitted dresses revealing one arm, in chunky knitted jumpers, embellished with wool ruffles, or transformed at the back into a fringed poncho. Even the shoulder handbag was fashioned from a twisted knit.

With this show, Twinset is hoping to mark a turning point and gain greater visibility, determined to continue its adventure on the catwalk, at least for the winter seasons, more in line with its knitwear-centred offering. “For us, it’s a starting point. An important step in accelerating our international development. It’s the right time to show, which comes after a major process of change and evolution to reposition Twinset towards a more contemporary, romantic style, with a beautiful, high-quality product that remains accessible. We’ve been working on this for five years,” confides managing director Alessandro Varisco, who has been at the helm since 2015.

“Twinset offers an alternative to luxury and there is an opportunity to be seized in this market segment. With inflation rising, consumers are looking for a product with good value for money. Our average price is around 380 euros, with the leather jacket made in Italy representing our highest price, at 980 euros,” he points out.
 
In any case, the fashion show came at just the right time for the Carlyle investment fund, which took a majority stake in Twinset in 2012, before increasing its stake to 100% in 2017, and has been looking to sell the company since 2020… The American investor’s Italian team was in full force in the front row of the fashion show, alongside representatives of other funds, such as Roberta Benaglia, who heads up Style Capital. Alessandro Varisco confirms that the brand is up for sale, but “at the moment there are no expressions of interest.”

When it was acquired, the Italian label posted sales of €243.4 million (for the 2016 financial year). Three years later, in 2019, sales stood at €237 million, only to fall back to €160 million during Covid. “We have recovered and are now above €200 million,” says the CEO.
 
Twinset is mainly distributed in Europe, with Italy its biggest market, still accounting for 50% of its total sales. Its main markets are Spain, Belgium, Russia and France, where it has three boutiques and two shop-in-shops, and plans to open three more, including two in Paris. In total, the label has 102 shops, which should rise to 107 by the end of 2024, with the aim of reaching 150 within five years.

On its opening day, Milan Fashion Week also stood out with a number of other initiatives. LVMH’s Crafts of Excellence division launched the second edition of its “Maestri d’Eccellenza Prize” (“Masters of Excellence Prize” in French) to promote Made in Italy skills among the younger generation. For its part, the Italian Chamber of Fashion (CNMI) inaugurated its Fashion Hub, open to the public, at Palazzo Giureconsulti, showcasing numerous projects and creations by young designers. 

Another unique event was that of Italian designer Sara Battaglia, who, with the support of Wolford and Kering Eyewear, organised a flash mob in the centre of Milan, appearing alongside fifteen or so models dressed just like her in red tights and an oversized white shirt with a red collar. “I wanted to use fashion to speak out against violence against women, so I launched this project with the DrittoFilo anti-violence centre,” she tells us. The shirts, called “Red Collar”, were made by the women who live at the centre and who are victims of domestic violence. They are now on sale, providing them with a work opportunity that will enable them to regain their independence.

The day ended with a fashion show by Maison Yoshiki Paris, the brand owned by Japanese artist and musician Yoshiki, who was in Milan for the first time.