Why Berluti’s Paris Presentation Was One of Fashion Week’s Most Sentimental and Beautiful

For the third consecutive year, Berluti chose the elegant setting of the Simone & Cino Del Duca Foundation in Paris to unveil its latest collection—a presentation that felt less like a fashion showcase and more like a meditation on creativity itself. Set within the grand late-19th-century hôtel particulier overlooking Parc Monceau, the exhibition unfolded as an exploration of how ideas become objects, emotions become materials, and craftsmanship transforms imagination into something tangible.

The choice of venue was no coincidence. Founded by Simone Del Duca in honor of her husband, the Italian-born publishing magnate Cino Del Duca, the Foundation embodies a dialogue between France and Italy, literature and culture, preservation and innovation. It is a story that resonates deeply with Berluti. Established by an Italian family from Italy’s Marche region and nurtured in Paris, the Maison has spent more than a century cultivating a distinctly Franco-Italian vision of elegance—one rooted in artistry, transmission, and exceptional savoir-faire.

Berluti Cultivates a Garden of Craft and Imagination in Paris

This season, Berluti invited visitors into a garden.

Not merely a botanical space, but a symbolic landscape where inspiration grows, ideas blossom, and craftsmanship takes root. Throughout the Foundation’s salons, the garden emerged as both subject and metaphor, connecting the Maison’s artisanal traditions with the poetic universe of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, a literary masterpiece that served as an unexpected yet profoundly fitting companion to the collection.

From the moment visitors entered, they were immersed in an atmosphere designed to awaken the senses. The scent of melted wax lingered in the air. Footsteps echoed through the rooms. Three shoe heels of varying sizes stood on display—a subtle tribute to Berluti’s shoemaking heritage. The installation echoed one of the central ideas of The Little Prince: among thousands of similar things, we learn to recognize and cherish what is uniquely ours.

That search for meaning beyond appearances became the intellectual thread running throughout the presentation.

Nature emerged as the collection’s visual language. Floral motifs appeared in surprising and sophisticated ways. A daffodil seemed to bloom naturally from the pocket of Berluti’s iconic Forestière jacket. Embroidered flowers emerged organically from knitwear, while delicate botanical references surfaced across shirts and accessories through a combination of print, embroidery, and optical illusion.

Yet beneath the poetry lay extraordinary technical achievement.

One standout garment combined intricate floral embroidery with laser-cut leather detailing, demonstrating the remarkable precision of Berluti’s ateliers. Elsewhere, the Maison’s celebrated craft traditions converged in an Un Jour blouson featuring an intrecciato-inspired leather collar—a piece that perfectly encapsulated Berluti’s ability to blend heritage techniques with contemporary design.

The same spirit of experimentation extended to footwear. This season introduced the first in a series of focused capsules designed to expand the Maison’s creative vocabulary. The Galet Bloom shoe, inspired by the sculptural silhouette of the arum lily, transformed a natural form into a striking object of design. Enhanced by a newly developed patina treatment, the shoe exemplified Berluti’s unique ability to translate organic beauty into leather.

Alongside it, the Lorenzo and Panache loafers continued the lineage of the Maison’s most refined silhouettes, demonstrating the enduring relevance of craftsmanship in an era increasingly defined by speed and disposability.

Leather as Canvas, Literature as Inspiration

If the garden provided the collection’s emotional foundation, the art of patina supplied its technical soul.

In the Foundation’s Orange Salon, Berluti explored the relationship between leather and light through a series of small leather goods inspired by Impressionist painting. Just as Monet and his contemporaries sought to capture atmosphere rather than strict representation, Berluti’s artisans manipulated layers of pigment and transparency to reveal the depth and character of Venezia leather.

For this project, the design studio selected details from four paintings, isolating fragments and translating them into one-of-a-kind leather surfaces. The resulting interpretations of the Un Jour, Luti, Un Jour de Poche, and Toujours bags captured distinct moments in a garden’s daily cycle—from the freshness of dawn and shimmering midday reflections to blooming hydrangeas and the quiet melancholy of twilight.

These pieces underscored what has long distinguished Berluti from many of its luxury peers. The Maison does not simply decorate leather; it treats it as a canvas.

That spirit extended to a new generation of accessories. The remarkably supple Un Jour-nal bag evoked the casual elegance of a folded newspaper tucked beneath the arm, while the newly introduced Grand Jour reimagined the men’s tote through a distinctly Berluti lens, balancing practicality with understated sophistication.

The presentation’s most moving dimension, however, emerged through its dialogue with The Little Prince.

As visitors progressed through the Foundation’s salons, Saint-Exupéry’s universe gradually unfolded. A softly illuminated writing desk recalled the one at which the author once worked, serving as a bridge between literary imagination and artisanal creation.

In the Vigny Salon, suspended planets evoked the celestial landscapes of the beloved story. Nearby, display cases paired Saint-Exupéry’s original illustrations with the Berluti creations they inspired. His distinctive line drawings appeared across leather goods—including the Un Jour, Deux Jours, and Trois Nuits bags—as well as the Maison’s iconic Alessandro lace-up shoe.

The connection felt remarkably natural. Both Berluti and Saint-Exupéry share an attentiveness to detail, a reverence for nature, and an understanding that objects and stories acquire meaning through emotional attachment rather than material value alone.

That idea found its ultimate expression in the Foundation’s library, where part of Simone and Cino Del Duca’s personal collection remains preserved. Here, Berluti highlighted its collaboration with Gallimard on a special Bibliothèque de la Pléiade edition dedicated to Saint-Exupéry. The Maison crafted bespoke presentation cases and book covers in patinated Venezia leather, extending its craftsmanship into the world of literature itself.

A Luxury Meant to Last

The exhibition concluded in the Cordoue Salon, where an artisan restored worn Berluti pieces before visitors’ eyes.

It was perhaps the presentation’s most powerful statement.

Surrounded by shoes, bags, and leather objects marked by years of use, the artisan demonstrated that luxury is defined not by novelty, but by longevity. Every scratch, crease, and layer of patina told a story. Every restoration became an act of preservation.

Today, Berluti reports that 97 percent of its products can be repaired—a remarkable figure in a luxury industry increasingly confronted with questions of sustainability and permanence. Rather than encouraging replacement, the Maison celebrates care. Its objects are designed to accompany their owners through decades of life, evolving alongside them and becoming repositories of memory.

In many ways, this philosophy brought the presentation full circle.

Like the garden that inspired it, Berluti’s world is one of cultivation rather than consumption. It values patience over immediacy, transmission over novelty, and craftsmanship over spectacle. Through its dialogue with The Little Prince, the Maison reminds us that the greatest luxuries are often the least visible: time, attention, memory, and the human hand.

In an era obsessed with constant reinvention, Berluti offers something increasingly rare—a vision of elegance rooted not simply in what we possess, but in what we choose to cherish.