Alessandro Dell'Acqua

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Logo of Alessandro Dell'Acqua's fashion brand N ° 21

Alessandro Dell'Acqua (born December 21, 1962 in Naples ) is an internationally known Italian fashion designer who works as a freelance designer for numerous fashion houses , and at the same time the name of a fashion company he founded in 1996 , in which Dell'Acqua has no longer been involved since 2009 is.

Career and company history

Dell'Acqua interested in his youth in Naples, inspired by movies , for costume making and fashion. At the age of 13 he began an apprenticeship with a Neapolitan dressmaker. After completing his studies at the Accademia di belle arti di Napoli , he moved to Milan in 1982. There he applied to the fashion designer Enrica Massei with his own sketches and was hired as her assistant. In 1986 the Italian fashion group Genny SpA ( sold to Prada in 2001 and closed in 2004) hired Dell'Acqua as creative director, where he worked with Gianni Versace , who advised the company. This was followed by the position of chief designer for the high-priced knitwear brand Pietro Pianforini .

In the early 1990s, Dell'Acqua teamed up with the textile manufacturer Belle Maille from Carpi (Province of Modena) for a small knitwear collection called AA Milano . From this a complete women's fashion collection developed within a few years. In 1996 Dell'Acqua finally launched his own fashion brand under his full name with a women's collection, which subsequently sold very well, and showed it in October 1997 at the Milan Fashion Week . In 1998 he presented a men's collection at the Pitti Immagine . Over the years, Dell'Acqua granted numerous licenses to other manufacturers. Light, feminine fabrics, clear lines and the 'nude' color have become his trademark. Shoes collections for women were added to the range in 2000 and for men in 2004. He launched the first perfume, called Alessandro Dell'Acqua , in 2001 in collaboration with EuroItalia for women, followed by the counterpart for men, Alessandro Dell'Acqua Man , in 2003 . In December 2002, the lingerie company La Perla appointed Dell'Acqua as creative director for womenswear. The contract ran until the end of 2008.

In 2003, Dell'Acqua sold 70% of its company to a consortium of investors called Cherry Grove , which in turn belonged to the Italian fashion group Redwall (renamed Borbonese SpA in 2006 ), for their own brands Redwall and Borbonese Dell'Acqua, which kept the remaining 30% , already worked as a designer. During this time, the sales of the Alessandro Dell'Acqua brand were around 18 million euros per year. With the new owners, which also included the Van Cleef & Arpels heir Claude Arpels, Alessandro Dell'Acqua boutiques were opened in New York City (closed in 2008) and London , among others . In 2008, Dell'Acqua was hired by the Italian cashmere brand Malo as creative director, where he only stayed for a year because the owner of Malo, IT Holding , ran into financial difficulties. In mid-2009, Dell'Acqua published a personal press release in which he distanced himself from the designs for the fashion brand that bears his name and stated that Cherry Grove had produced the designs without his approval. This meant the end of the collaboration between Cherry Grove / Redwall and Dell'Acqua. Since then, all rights to the Alessandro Dell'Acqua brand have belonged to Redlux-Holding , the parent company of Borbonese SpA .

In May 2010, Brioni hired Dell'Acqua as creative director for their women's fashion division, which was launched in 2001. However, Brioni stopped womenswear at the end of 2011 and ended the collaboration with Dell'Acqua.

In autumn 2010, Dell'Acqua presented the creations of his newly founded, self-financed, contemporary fashion brand N ° 21 , named after his birthday , for which he mixed "street style with couture" during the Milan Women's Fashion Week. In 2012 he concluded a license agreement for production and distribution with the Gilmar Group from San Giovanni in Marignano , which includes Iceberg (fashion brand) . In 2012, the N ° 21 annual turnover was 4 million euros, in 2015 it was 24 million euros. A shoe license was given to Kallisté . In February 2012, Dell'Acqua accepted the position of Creative Director at the Italian fashion brand Les Copains, where he stayed until the end of 2013. From the end of 2013 to the beginning of 2020, Dell'Acqua was creative director responsible for women's fashion at the French fashion house Rochas . In January 2014 Dell'Acqua expanded the N ° 21 portfolio to include men's fashion, which generates 20% of sales. Since then, both collections have been presented at Milan Fashion Week. The strongest sales market for N ° 21 is Japan, where a flagship store was opened in Tokyo in 2014 , followed by Great Britain. At the beginning of 2015, Dell'Acqua sold 30% of its Società 2112 company , owner of N ° 21 , to the Gilmar Group. Also in 2015 he signed a distribution agreement with CD Networks to open up the US market. A children's fashion collection and a glasses license are planned. Dell'Acqua's design studio is located in Milan's Città Studi district.

Designer post

Fashion houses for which Dell'Acqua worked or is a designer (incomplete list):

  • Enrica Massei 1982-1986
  • Genny 1986 – late 1980s
  • Pietro Pianforini
  • AA Milano 1992-1996
  • Alessandro Dell'Acqua 1997-2009
  • La Perla 2002-2008
  • Redwall , Borbonese early 2000s – 2009
  • Malo 2008-2009
  • Brioni 2010-2011
  • N ° 21 2010 – today
  • Les Copains 2012-2013
  • Rochas in late 2013 – early 2020

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About N ° 21. numeroventuno.com, archived from the original on January 19, 2016 ; Retrieved January 19, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Alessandro Dell'Acqua: A Man For All Seasons , wmagazine.com, August 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ Portraits: Alessandro Dell'Acqua , elle.de, accessed: January 19, 2015.
  4. ↑ Malo , mffashion.com, April 3, 2008.
  5. ↑ Dell'Acqua Minus Dell'Acqua? , vogue.co.uk, June 1, 2009.
  6. ↑ Imagining the Brioni Woman , wsj.com, September 30, 2010.
  7. ↑ Brioni , vogue.de, August 24, 2011.
  8. ↑ The Interview: Alessandro Dell'Acqua , hungertv.com, May 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ New Job , vogue.co.uk, February 10 2012th
  10. ↑ Alessandro Dell'Acqua moves to Rochas , vogue.de, September 26, 2013.
  11. ↑ Steff Yotka: Alessandro Dell'Acqua Departs Rochas. Retrieved April 18, 2020 (English).
  12. ↑ Gilmar rileva il 30% di N ° 21 di Alessandro Dell'Acqua , fashionmag.com, May 12, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Dell'Acqua, Alessandro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Naples