The Meaning of Creation

Brunello Cucinelli remains a potent force in the fashion discourse, in particular the conversations focused on humans, art, and nature. In his recent interview with the Wall Street Journal titled “Brunello Cucinelli on the Importance of Ancient Philosophy and Practical Jokes,” he stresses the importance of “living in harmony with creation.” He tells us that what springs from this philosophical premise is the design concept of earth-toned clothing. Brunello spent his childhood working the land with his father outside Castel Rigone, a a small 15th-century agricultural hamlet near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. His relationship with the land was an indispensable instrument for how he views the world, having a strong impact on how he developed the label’s color palette: “Beauty, order, tidiness. These are the basics.”

Brunello’s philosophical foundations are vital to observe in our disordered, decadent, and morally tumultuous world. But where do these true things lead us? For Cucinelli, the answer leads to many places: “the heavens,” “the soul,” “spirituality.” Leading man to these things is certainly our most important endeavor, but why? The purpose of Mesciu Gigi is grounded in the why. 

The why must find the beginning. What is the source of this order that we encounter? When we encounter something beautiful, our souls are raised. Our souls are directed, however, to something that man didn’t design. The natural world has an order to it. But it’s an order that was made by God. 

The modern concept of creativity stresses originality and focuses on the act of the human creator. Modern art and creativity often makes you believe that the designer or the artist conceived, developed, and materialized their work in their own isolated process. Mesciu Gigi understands the importance of human ingenuity. But ingenuity for us serves a different purpose. We look for things that are already here on this earth, but which haven’t been truly seen. 

When we look at Lecce, the guiding force behind most of our designs, we do not ask ourselves how we can merely transpose its aesthetic qualities onto clothing. We look at what lies beneath its aesthetic manifestations and how it serves as an expression of the movement, ornamentation, and ecstatic wonder that God has designed in the world around us. We aim to continue God’s work. 

In this continuation, attention and observation become the paramount virtues of creation. We try to understand as much as we can about the beauty of the world around us, and while making a beautiful object for a human being is certainly a goal of ours, the end goal of the product is to direct attention beyond the object itself toward the true Designer from which the beauty came.