Style
Agnelli’s fashion sense stood out, even in a country like Italy, where dressing well and fashionably is generally perceived as very important. His style has inspired and influenced menswear throughout the years, in Italy and around the world. In his retirement speech, Milanese fashion designer Nino Cerruti named Agnelli as one of his biggest inspirations, amongst James Bond and John F. Kennedy. Esquire Magazine named Agnelli as one of five best dressed men in the history of the World.
Agnelli’s dress style was a combination of a foundation of classic suits, combined with eye-catching personal tricks. He had a large number of bespoke Caraceni suits, which were of very high quality and classic design, and yet had the signature Italian bravura. It was the accessories and the way they were worn that made Agnelli stand out as a fashionisto. He is known for wearing his wristwatch over his cuff, wearing his tie askew or wearing (fashionable) high brown hiking boots under a bespoke suit. All these tricks were carefully chosen in order to convey sprezzatura, the Italian art of making the difficult look easy. His outfits were scrupulously chosen to the last detail, yet the accessory choices appeared as errors, making it look as if he did not care or make an effort about the way he was dressed.
Apart from his dress sense, Agnelli’s homes were work of designers and looked like studies in elegant living. Additionally, he was interested in sailing, fast cars, Cresta tobogganing, skiing and horses. His grandsons and heirs to Fiat, John and Lapo Elkann, seem to have adopted their grandfather’s tradition of dressing, as they are both often observed dressed classically and flamboyantly at high-society venues.
Agnelli's nickname of "The Rake of the Riviera", inspired the classical menswear magazine The Rake.
Read more about this topic: Gianni Agnelli
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“On the first days, like a piece of music that one will later be mad about, but that one does not yet distinguish, that which I was to love so much in [Bergotte’s] style was not yet clear to me. I could not put down the novel that I was reading, but I thought that I was only interested in the subject, as in the first moments of love when one goes every day to see a woman at some gathering, or some pastime, by the amusements to which one believes to be attracted.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)