Eleventy’s Carbone Capsule Collection for Holt Renfrew Is of the Moment
Menswear fashion essentials for fall.
Italians radiate a style that is universally admired and the subject of much inspiration and aspiration. For Marco Baldassari, his personal style is communicated with Eleventy, the menswear label he created to sate his love affair with fashion. “I spent the better part of 10 years as a fabric sourcing agent for a variety of fashion labels,” he says. Baldassari, the creative director for Eleventy, has a breadth of materials knowledge so vast he can differentiate quality of cloth by a single thread whether it’s cotton or cashmere. “I came to rely heavily on quality product,” he says, and “when I decided to create my own line, quality was to be the main ingredient.” Consequently, Eleventy is a logoless product whose signature is exceptionally high-quality fabrics. As Baldassari notes, Eleventy is “for people who do not need to shock, for those when a high-quality garment is enough.” Some may call it quiet luxury, but Baldassari prefers “smart luxury.”
Eleventy (a play on elevate) was founded in Milan, Italy’s fashion capital, in 2007, with a collection of polos that were devoid of logos or insignia. Each new collection, the adding of pieces, and now, Eleventy is a full-fledged brand of tailored elegance with a spirit of sprezzatura—that Italian nonchalance that makes the way one dresses appear effortless. “I try to make a collection that reflects my way of thinking,” Baldassari says, “trying to make the best version of every man, because when you feel good about yourself, you dress in a certain way and the mirror sees you confidently.”
In the Eleventy showroom on Via Uberto Visconte di Modrone, sunlight floods the floor-to-ceiling windows where fashion chatter is the order of the day. “We are the new,” says one employee, evidently on a sales call. “Those that come to us from Brunello Cucinelli or Loro Piana stick with us.” And it’s easy to see why: the Eleventy ethos is a sophisticated yet playful attitude with silhouettes made voluptuous by the finest fabrics at a price point that is a fraction of the aforementioned brands. Eleventy trousers, hoodie, and “magic” jacket seems to be the unofficial dress code. Baldassari sports a Happy Place, est. 2007 T-shirt beneath his magic Jacket, the company’s bestseller. “Magic, because it basically follows your body,” he says. “Anyone who wears it—thin or a little big—the jacket adapts to your body.”
While Eleventy is staunchly Italian, the brand has expanded to North America—New York, Bal Harbour, Beverly Hills—with Holt Renfrew one of the brand’s first stockists in Canada. “There is a certain charisma with Eleventy,” says Joseph Tang, fashion director for Holt Renfrew. “With our trips to Europe, we are always in search of what’s trending, and when we had heard of Eleventy and met with the team, it was a meeting of the minds.”
Baldassari and his team have created a capsule collection for Holt Renfrew. Titled Carbone, the 17-piece collection is “the perfect kind of essential starter kit,” Tang says. With the capsule collection, Baldassari was challenged to go with a colour that we have never seen from him before: carbone. “Carbone graphite is black but not black,” asserts Baldassari, who has yet to use black in any of his collections. Wools, corduroys, cashmeres, and a beautiful shearling trucker jacket—Eleventy is of the moment.
