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Brioni creative director Brendan Mullane believes in a multifaceted approach to cre-ativity no matter the medium. “To me, it’s not ‘fashion is fashion,’ ‘art is art,’ and ‘archi-tecture is architecture,’” says the 37-year-old British-born designer. “You can’t possibly say one doesn’t influence the other.” Those influ-ences are evident in Brioni’s fall/winter 2013 collection—Mullane’s debut for the Italian label. The line combines elegant tailoring, a refined palette ( blues, blacks, greens, grays, maroons, tans), and rich materials, including wool, beaver fur, cashmere, and mink. Before Brioni, Mullane was the head mens-wear designer at Givenchy in Paris for two and a half years. His fixation on fashion began in art school at the Kingsway College London, where “I saw that I could take everything I liked about construction, the linear constraints I liked in architecture, and use it in fashion.” He followed this up by honing his sartorial skillset further at Kingston University, and then at powerhouses such as Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès. Now at Brioni for eight months, Mullane’s been busy mining the Rome-based brand’s past as he leads it into a new era.

Hi, Brendan. What did you do today?

My days usually start the same: I arrive in the office, and then I have my pot of tea. It’s very Anglo-Saxon. It’s a morning ritual. You have to leave me for 15 minutes to get me into my thinking, and then I’m up and running. This morning I worked with my coordinator and personal assistant on agenda planning because we’ve been in Milan the last three days. This afternoon I’ll begin to work with my design team on the pre-collection.

Is this your average day?

Not really. I don’t have an average day here. It’s quite strange. I’ve always believed that organization is the key to success, but the more organized I try to be, the more my agenda kind of goes haywire. We travel a lot. Appointments cross over from one meeting to the next.

Your designs seem very architectural. Does architecture inspire you?

Yes. I refer to things in millimeters. I never say centimeters. When I’m talking about millimeters, people laugh at that, but it is literally mil-limeters. I’ll say, “Take 2 millimeters off the shoulder here, do 3 mil-limeters there, lower this by 8 millimeters.” And I’m really inspired every time I go to an old building, a Modern building, a really contem-porary building, or even a Brutalist building. I come out and feel dif-ferent, even about the way I wear clothes inside an environment.

Do you have a favorite architect?

I love the work of Peter Zumthor. I admire his understanding of what the environment is and his dedication to line. You can spot his work from a mile off. He always uses beauti-ful materials. He’s someone who I can really relate to.

What was your approach to Brioni’s fall/winter 2013 collection?

To be very respectful and to show people the amazing craftsmanship I’d seen inside Brioni. And to show Brioni’s not a stuffy brand—people have wrongly given us this image.

So who’s the Brioni man?

Obviously, someone who’s very cultured. I want him to be an architect. I want him to be an actor. I’d love him to be an artistic direc-tor, a creative director, or a financial direc-tor. He’s demanding in what he wants. Our customers are not easy. They expect a certain level of service that comes with this quality.

Some say the world’s becoming more casual. Where does Brioni fit in?

I kind of disagree. I understand this idea, but I believe men now are going one step backwards to look more elegant. It’s going backwards to go forwards. Men see that you can be seen really differently as a person by the way you dress. It’s a new way to be a bit more expressive. A pair of trousers isn’t just a pair of trousers.

When you’re not working, do you have a favorite place to go on vacation?

The Swiss mountains in between Berzona and Verbier, to ski. My telephone never works there. It’s brilliant. I just forget about everything.

Do you think you’ll ever retire?

Oh, God, I’d love to. I told everyone I’d retire at 40, and then 45. Now it’s 50. One day, yeah, I will, for sure. If I’m not doing fashion or any-thing creative, I’ll breed amazing horses. [Laughs]

Do you live by any tried-and-true mantras?

Only say “no” if you’ve tried everything possible. I really hate that word.

What would you like for your tombstone to say?

“He will be missed.” I’d hate for it to describe me as nice.

FORECAST

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