Blazé Milano Makes Its Retail Debut With Store in Milan

MILAN — Blazé Milano is making its direct retail debut. 

The niche luxury brand founded in 2013 by former stylists Corrada Rodriguez d’Acri, Delfina Pinardi and Maria Sole Torlonia and best known for its tailored blazers, is opening its first-ever flagship here Monday. 

Nestled in Via Santo Spirito, opposite to stores from the likes of Isabel Marant and Zimmermann, the 968-square-foot space is the result of an all female-led collaborative project, since the founders have tapped creative adviser Constance Govare and the design studio Collective Philo (Dicarolo – Zogopoulos) to develop the interior concept.

Inspired by Milanese interiors with elements of Art Nouveau, the interior is done up in a buttery color palette combined with furniture in chocolate and lacquered black hues. Nodding to vintage burl veneer, the flooring is covered in tile-looking wooden panels with glossy finishes.

Camel-colored carpeting defines the changing room area for a cozier feel amplified by ‘30s Art Deco chairs. Other design elements range from blown glass tables with a smoky gray transparent resin effect to draperies in mannish fabrics infusing a dash of theatricality.

Details including the store’s horn-looking resin door handles recall the brand’s seahorse logo, which was introduced last year as part of Blazé Milano’s 10^th anniversary and rebranding overseen by MaisonNue, the Paris-based creative agency cofounded by Govare. 

The heart of the intimate store is the Blazé Atelier area dedicated to the brand’s made-to-order creations. This is marked by a pony skin rug and two armchairs, whose rounded lines loosely evoke the half-moon shape of Blazé Milano’s signature Smiley pockets.

While the bespoke service in-store will add to the one the company already offers in its ateliers in Milan and Rome, the founders’ intention is to turn this area of the store into the gravitational center of the flagship, hosting events, cross-industry workshops and cultural projects to further engage with its customers.

As for the product selection, the store will carry Blazé Milano’s complete assortment, which over the years has expanded to include categories such as knitwear and denim, bridal lines and collaborations spanning from sunglasses created with luxury eyewear brand L.G.R. to limited-edition beauty accessories developed with body and hair care specialist Koh-I-Noor.

Yet Blazé Milano’s bestsellers still include the first styles the founders designed when launching the company, such as the “Everyday” double-breasted blazer jacket. The “Everynight” oversize style and the “Charmer” hourglass-shaped option are also popular among customers.

The brand kick-started its journey a decade ago with a trunk show staged at the house of Torlonia’s grandmother in Rome. Launching with a direct-to-consumer business model, supplemented by made-to-measure, it first began to wholesale in 2014, collecting orders from international retailers including Net-a-porter, Matchesfashion, Alex Eagle and Beymen. In 2015, the self-financed project was included in the Who’s on Next talent contest promoted by Vogue Italia and Alta Roma, garnering the attention of a jury including Suzy Menkes, Franca Sozzani, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Riccardo Grassi and Beppe Angiolini.

Over the years, personalities donning Blazé Milano pieces have included the Princess of Wales, Julianne Moore, Jessica Chastain, Julia Roberts, Kristen Stewart, Emma Stone, Chrissy Teigen, Charlotte Casiraghi, Alexa Chung, Caroline De Maigret and Dree Hemingway, to name a few.

The brand was represented by the 247 showroom until 2020, when the pandemic encouraged the founders to tweak their approach and bring in-house that part of the business, too, in a move that propelled the company’s growth — also with a little help from strategic adviser and fashion veteran Michele Norsa, as reported.

Last year, Blazé Milano’s revenues totaled 11.5 million euros compared to 8 million euros in 2022, when it already reported a 70 percent increase over the previous year. Sales generated outside Italy accounted for 70 percent of total revenues in 2023, said managing director Filippo Fani Ciotti.

The executive said growth came in both the brand’s e-commerce — where sales increased 75 percent compared to 2022 — and in the wholesale channel. 

To be sure, last year the wholesale channel accounted for 85 percent of sales, while the label’s own e-commerce generated 10 percent of total sales. The remaining revenues came from the physical ateliers of the brand.

Blazé Milano is carried at more than 100 retailers worldwide, including Harrods, Lane Crawford, SKP, Takashimaya, Shinsegae, Lodenfrey, Kirna Zabête and Calexico, among others. 

Fani Ciotti underscored that after the domestic market, China and Europe are the best-performing ones for the brand, but significant investments are being made in the U.S. to improve logistics locally.