There are many dormant brands with a glorious history which for financial reasons cease to exist at a certain point. As happened to that of Walter Albini, the designer who, in the 70s, created prêt-à-porter, unisex fashion shows, fashion made in Italy from Milan, the capital of fashion. But now the name of Walter Albini is finally about to be revived: the Swiss investment platform Bidayat, a company of the Alsara Investment Group founded by Rachid Mohamed Rachid (CEO of the Qatari investment fund Mayhoola, owner of Balmain, Valentino Fashion Group and Pal Zileri), has just acquired the intellectual property and a large part of the archives of the Italian designer and intends to relaunch the brand in a big way. These news have kept the fashion world in suspense since rumours began to circulate involvement of Alessandro Michele, former creative director of Gucci.
In the early 70s, Albini invented the unimax formula, made up of garments without distinction of cut and colour for men and women. If Saint Laurent invented Le Smoking, Walter Albini goes further: men and women can slip into each other's shoes, anticipating gender fluid by 50 years. Precursor of what we now call storytelling or brand image, he was a genius when it came to building stories around his fashion. Stories showing him and customers wearing his creations, furnished his homes by coordinating them with the collections and uses them as photographic sets, chooses friends and acquaintances as testimonials, launches the show-show that goes beyond the concept of fashion show. A master-mind in creating a differentiated brand and fashion style. Well, let's see what the revival will look like?
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