Brunello Cucinelli’s Legacy Premieres on the Silver Screen

The fashion biopic is far from a new format. Built on high craftsmanship and visionary storytelling, fashion and film are natural on-screen companions. Films like McQueen (2018), The September Issue (2009), and Dries (2016) let us peek behind the curtain and discover the people and craft beyond the countless runways, glorious wardrobes, and glossy campaigns. Yet the typical biopic or documentary adheres to an obvious blueprint. Most often, the introduction cuts between flashes of their meteoric success with a kind-worded voiceover and dramatic talking-head interviews from their peers. Amongst fashion’s filmography, few stories follow a first-person chronological retelling. Then again, few designers have led a life like Brunello Cucinelli.

For the first time, the Italian designer turns the lens on his own story, unveiling the life behind his namesake label in a new docufilm. Showing in select theatres across Canada on July 24, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary weaves the chapters of Cucinelli’s remarkable story through reenactments and documentary-style film. The audience is invited to peek into Cucinelli’s upbringing, watching his dreams come to fruition, from being raised a young farmer’s son in the Italian countryside to becoming the creative director and executive chairman of a global luxury lifestyle brand and Italy’s “King of Cashmere.”

Born in the ancient Umbrian hamlet of Castel Rigone in 1953, Cucinelli founded his company as a spry 25-year-old, earning success through dyeing colourful variants of women’s cashmere knitwear, a new niche in the market. With great enthusiasm and a strong moral compass, Cucinelli has led his label to a market capitalization of more than $6.2 billion. At the heart of his endeavour, the 72-year-old designer maintains his values, using his broader vision of what he calls “humanistic capitalism” as a guide.

“I dreamed of a business to make profits ethically, with dignity, without causing suffering to people and offence to Creation, or at least as little as possible,” Cucinelli says. “I liked to envisage more pleasant workplaces, where one could enjoy the view outside, and I wanted people to earn a little more, because we are all thinking souls, and because we can no longer turn our backs on poverty.”

Shot in Umbria, with little movie magic necessary, the film is directed by Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, who tells Cucinelli’s story through three actors, Francesco Cannevale, Francesco Ferroni, and Saul Nanni, depicting three periods of the designer’s life.

Premiering in Italy in December, The Gracious Visionary has already seen success at the box office, earning more than $1 million during its limited seven-day run. Then in April, the designer hosted a gala screening of the film in New York, welcoming a star-filled audience, including guests like Oscar Isaac, Naomi Watts, and Katie Holmes, to watch from the Lincoln Center theatre seats.

Cucinelli recognizes how rare it is to watch his own film and attend its premiere during his lifetime. In an interview with Variety, the fashion designer spoke of his hope to witness the impact of his life story while still alive. He noted that the typical legacy documentary is created posthumously, adding that the films he has watched about those he had known personally known had failed to capture the true depth of the human being they portrayed. As an artist with such a heavy legacy, it’s hard to question his desire for creative control. After all, who better to shape a life story than the person who lived it?

Photographs by Stefano Schirato

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