Brunello Cucinelli: Soon to be a major motion picture

Add “docudrama star” to the list of Brunello Cucinelli’s professions, alongside designer, brand builder, philanthropist and savant.

Cucinelli will make his film debut in December in Rome when he unspools a film on his life and career by Giuseppe Tornatore, an Oscar winner with “Cinema Paradiso” for best foreign film in 1988.

“I thought if I was going to make a film, I had better work with the best. And, well, Giuseppe is magic. Too many people get films made about them when they are dead. Better when you are alive, as I am,” enthused Brunello on Wednesday in his elegant stand at Pitti.

The Umbria-born entrepreneur revealed that shooting for the autobiographical film had already begun in 2023 in his hinterland – the towns of Magione, Solomeo and Castel Rigone, clustered around the regional capital Perugia. The evolution of Cucinelli’s story, from his modest beginnings to his consecration as the “king of cashmere,” will be presented on the big screen.

“Cinema Paradiso is a little like the story of my life,” said Cucinelli, who grew up in a working family before going on to build Italy’s latest global sartorial brand. “Cinema Paradiso” narrates the story of a successful film director who returns to his small hometown in Sicily for the funeral of his mentor. Its ending is one of the most beautiful in the history of film.

Cucinelli also divulged that he had called on the skills of composer Nicola Piovani, another Italian Oscar winner for “Life Is Beautiful” in 1997, for the soundtrack.

The news emerged as Brunello unveiled a subtle yet very substantial switch in his aesthetic – baggy pants. New trousers cut with double pleats, and a lower, looser waist.

“More like this,” explained Brunello as he opened his jacket to reveal the trousers’ lower waistline, and how he had displaced buttons an inch lower on the jacket of his six-button chalk stripe linen suit. Believe it or not, Cucinelli even showed worn and ever-so-ripped jeans, practically an insurrection in his bible of style.

His informal evening breaks new ground with matinee idol jackets with satin-free shawl lapels. While the color palette also has plenty of kick–orange, apricot, royal blue, and coral red. Overall, think fluid yet sartorial.

But the biggest news will come in early December when Brunello unveils his docudrama. Tornatore’s most recent film was a biopic on Italy’s most famous composer for cinema, Ennio Morricone. Next, Giuseppe and Brunello will head to Rome for the cinematic debut in the capital’s legendary film studio – Cinecittà – in the first week of December.

Roll over, David Beckham and Michael Jordan; there is a new docudrama designer sheriff in town.