Billionaire

“Luxury is to feel good and comfortable in what you wear.” - Flavio Briatore

Billionaire - the Italian fashion brand was founded in 2005 by the talented and creative businessman Flavio Briatore and supported by Percassi since 2007. The entrepreneurs teamed up with famous designer Angelo Galasso, who invented a special cut of Watch Cuff shirts with a cuff made conveniently for wearing watches. The exceptional quality of their clothes and accessories, along with their skillful marketing approach, allowed for the young brand to quickly gain popularity in the upscale market. Today the brand successfully competes with the most famous and oldest fashion houses in Europe.

Billionaire clothes, shoes and accessories are created for successful men who know how to work and relax. Products of the brand are all handmade and are produced in limited quantities. Only a few stores carry the Billionaire merchandise. Suffice it to say that shirts are sewn and pressed according to an old artisan technique and ties are made entirely by hand.

Each Billionaire model combines precious natural materials with the best traditions of tailor's art. Outerwear is made of exotic leather and rare furs. Shirts are made of the finest silk and have a special design for the upper buttonhole. Suits are cut using the Neapolitan cut and look especially exquisite thanks to gold button details. Soft and warm Australian wool is used for jumpers. Other fabrics include cashmere, cotton and mohair produced by Loro Piana (another excellence of Made in Italy); as well as the precious Scabal Diamond Chip, the fabric that incorporates diamond fragments, or Orchid wool, infused with fragrant orchid essence, to make this collection special. Shoes are handmade using wooden nails, and each pair gets its own serial number. The collection also contains stingray leather belts embellished with gold or silver buckles. Gloves and bags are made with the most sought-after leathers like python, ostrich and crocodile. Buttons are made from natural materials such as bone and Australian mother-of-pearl. The total look of Billionaire Couture includes precious accessories like jewels and trinkets with rubies.

Billionaire pays much attention to the packaging as well. For example, jeans are sold in cedar boxes, which allow the fabric to maintain its softness.

The First Line of Haute Couture for Men

Flavio Briatore once again confirmed his ability to predict market trends and with Billionaire Couture created the first line of haute couture dedicated to men, a niche in the fashion business that had so far remained unexplored.

Briatore's fashion adventure began in 2005, when Billionaire Couture was born in the historic Porto Cervo store. Within a few years, in collaboration with the Percassi company, the brand has become global, opening 30 stores and 60 points of sale locations around the world. Billionaire Couture high fashion for men is sold in cities like Las Vegas, Dubai, Moscow, Rome, St. Moritz, St. Tropez and London, where it has an exclusive license in Harrods.

Briatore's man fully reflects the lifestyle of the Italian tycoon. The lifestyle of a charismatic, elitist and refined person, who loves a sartorial fashion built on a solid classical basis; in short, a chic man down to the last detail.

Billionaire Couture expresses the temperament of those who wear the garments, because according to the "Briatore’s thought", dressing in real style is not only a synonym of great personality, but is also the "brand" of true luxury. The fusion of high-end tailoring and Prêt-à-porter has been perfectly successful - the collection inspired by Briatore is the quintessence of luxury and all-Italian excellence.

Billionaire Couture is the reference brand in the panorama of men's luxury high fashion, not just a simple fashion collection, but an exclusive lifestyle, the same style that made the Billionaire philosophy famous throughout the world.

Philipp Plein Wants to Rewrite the Rules of Men's Luxury

Notice the sailors of the luxury planet: two pyrotechnic personalities that have united to tease the desires of those who want and can afford the maximum. In 2016, Philipp Plein became the majority shareholder of Billionaire Couture. The German designer took over 51% of the Flavio Briatore brand and of the Percassi business company. In this new arrangement, Briatore and Percassi divide the remaining 49 percent. "We want to create a true luxury product made in Italy, the most exclusive of men's brands in the luxury segment ".

Philipp Plein, already owning the brand that bears his name, also became the creative director of Billionaire. Plein's new Billionaire Couture is aimed at influential men who appreciate the finest aspects of fashion. To those who have an accelerated pace of life and do not want to deny themselves the best.

The project - they declare - “represents the first step in a strategy aimed at building a Philipp Plein luxury goods group with particular attention to niche brands that have a significant growth potential". At first glance the encounter between the unstoppable German designer who makes his women's fashion shows memorable with amazing special effects - and the Italian entrepreneur trained by the speed of thought of Formula 1, seems perfect: both of them go to a thousand an hour, not to mention Percassi, who made history in the retail sector in Italy., "Leveraging on the synergies”, say Briatore and Plein, “infrastructures and know-how of Philipp Plein International" while maintaining the identity of the brands.

Entirely produced in Italy, the brand is inspired by sartorial traditions and is aimed at men who appreciate the precious details and the most refined aspects of fashion, and who love to dress elegantly, without constraints. "This agreement with Philipp was born spontaneously", says the Italian entrepreneur, "for the common affinities and synergies between us, both in personal and business terms". Everything was ready for the new era: the first step was the passage of creative direction into the hands of the designer, ready to debut, with the collection for spring-summer 2017 on the occasion of Milano Moda Uomo, with a special presentation.

"Our goal is to grow the brand in the deluxe world, dedicated exclusively to men- and kids wear," explains Plein. "Among the first four-handed projects for 2017, there is a construction of a large showroom in Milan, and 30 new store openings in the world over the next five years. We also believe that the menswear sector is ready for more significant global growth into the women's sector. With this acquisition we intend to take advantage of this development potential. Billionaire Couture is a brand not yet sufficiently cultivated, which we want to develop by relying on our structure, quality and possible synergies to achieve a well-defined image, with a strong niche positioning. We have the experience and know-how to do it”.

Philipp Plein About His Billionaire Brand

“You don’t have to be a billionaire to wear Billionaire, you can also be a millionaire”.

On opening his first Billionaire store, Philipp Plein said “It is an amazing store, a new concept of the store. The materials, the colors just came out beautiful.”

Billionaire is not expensive; let’s say it’s the right price for the right product. Everything is produced in Italy, using few traditional artisans, called specialists. Everyone in this field is a specialist doing this job for many years or even decades. Most of them are family industries and businesses. For the quality you receive it is not expensive. In Billionaire you don’t buy fashion you buy quality and product. A leather jacket is a world away from a nylon jacket, and a crocodile jacket is a world away from a traditional leather jacket. You get what you pay for.

Today, people buy fashion because they want to consume fashion. Nowadays everybody in the fashion world is focused on sportswear. Few still know how to properly tie a tie, or how to elegantly style a blazer. Dressing up for your day to day is slowly becoming a lost art. Life is a celebration - it is worth dressing up for!

“Everybody can sell Amani or Gucci because these are the brands everybody knows. Billionaire is a new brand, probably the youngest brand on Rodeo Drive. Rodeo Drive is probably the most exclusive and most known shopping street in the world. Surprisingly it is a very small street with 40 or 50 brands here, most famous brands. It is a challenge for our brand.“

Billionaire made a unique crocodile skin hoodie for boxer Lomachenko. “This is what fashion is about - it is about changes. And not to be the one who is following. Do your own thing. Let them do the Old Street Style. I am fed up with it. I only wear my brand and now it’s time for change.”

“Billionaire had already existed and I wanted to understand the brand. It took me a few months to figure out what people expect of Billionaire. The name is very strong - it is not called Millionaire but Billionaire. I wanted to do something which is classic but at the same time contemporary. I was trying to understand who could be the kind of Billionaire. Obviously it’s a men’s brand. I wanted to create something new which is very difficult. Nearly everything already exists.  When you look at Billionaire and compare, we look for direct competition. And really there is none, no competition.

This brand is for men who consume fashion. We are looking at other men’s brands and how they are marketing themselves. They all try to look young. This is somehow wrong because we all get older. At a certain point we need to accept that we are getting older. When you see a 50-year-old woman trying to look like her 20-year-old daughter, she looks funny. Getting older is not an obstacle, you can really be cool.”

Is Gray Hair a Symbol of Wealth? New Show Of 2019

Yes, at least that is what we can conclude from the recent Billionaire collection.  It was held at Palazzo del Senato in Milan, and included a reconstructed polo match with lots of synthetic snow. It was a great event that also enhanced the runaway growth of the brand that has decided to sponsor the Monte Carlo Polo Team, one of the strongest teams in the world (winner of the Sankt Moritz 'Snow Polo World Cup' award for three consecutive years) and organize the first “International Polo Cup” in Monaco. And so, the Autumn / Winter collection is strongly inspired by the sporting elegance of the equestrian world. The members of the Monte Carlo Polo Team, dressed in helmets, saddles and riding boots all branded Billionaire, took part in a Polo demonstration. This was until the arrival of Mr. Plutus, the enigmatic creator of the brand, who gave the go-ahead to the show.

The mysterious creative director remains incognito, following a clear brand strategy of focusing attention on clothes and not on a “personality” as the industry often tends to do.

Known as "the sport of kings", polo is the perfect match with a brand famous for unparalleled luxury and opulence of tailoring entirely Made in Italy. Staying true to the brand's roots, this new winter wardrobe offers the ultimate in exotic glamour: varsity crocodile jackets with mink collars, Astrakhan Macs, inside-out shearling coats, crocodile trench coats with antiqued or nuanced workmanship and hunting jackets are the key items in the collection.

The strategy of using models over fifty also continues, a choice that at first had somewhat surprised the world of fashion and became a real trademark. The fascinating men of Billionaire, with their silver hair, paraded in their mustard and peacock green outfits, paired with snakeskin lapels, worn with silk shirts and shawl collars. The feeling was one of effortless relaxation, accented by the warm autumn color palette, retaining the prestige of an old-school universe with a preppy flavor. Billionaire aims for absolute luxury, hoping to be unrivaled in its own way.