Massimo Giorgetti stages triumphant show after selling one third of his house

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 26, 2018

One day Massimo Giorgetti sells a third of his booming indie fashion house. Forty eight hours later the house’s founder stages a passionate show dedicated to one of Milan’s most loved sons, Alessandro Manzoni.
 

Italian fashion, increasingly, looks like a united, and happier, family. However, this was not a patriotic diatribe. Instead a paean to Manzoni, the author of Italy’s greatest 19th century novel, I Promessi Sposi, or The Betrothed. Though it’s a dramatic tale of a couple surviving the vicissitudes of war, famine and abduction, the clothes were very much in the optimistic vein, which Milan and MSGM is enjoying right now.
 
Hence, Manzoni’s face adorned printed shirts and tops, while his favorite spots in Milan – like Bar Basso and Pasticceria Cucchi – appeared on oversized football scarves and bold jacquard sweaters.  Continuing his visual ode to Milan, Giorgetti – who actually hails from Rimini on the Adriatic Coast – also featured images of the Milan skyline; Futurist art manifestos and Deco chains. His track pants and sports tops looked very punchy as did the padded floral coats and brother creeper sneakers.

Giorgetti will never be a designer of couture; but he instinctively gets popular culture and just knows what young hipsters want for a busy weekend.
 
He took a long running ovation with a huge smile at the show, staged under a modern cupola in central Milan, opposite the church of San Fedele where Manzoni used to pray.
 
His new partners, Style Capital, are to acquire a 32% stake in MSGM S.r.l., which owns MSGM, the contemporary brand of apparel, footwear and bags.
 
The remaining portion will be held by Manifattura Paoloni (49%), the designer’s long-time backer, and directly by Massimo Giorgetti (19%). Giorgetti will continue to be the artistic and creative director of the brand. Terms of the deal were not released.
 
Founded in 2009 by Massimo Giorgetti, the MSGM brand has become one of the most successful and desirable brands in the contemporary luxury segment. In 2017, MSGM achieved total turnover of approximately 50 million euros (scoring 15% annual growth over the past three years), and boasting a gross operating margin of 18%. This year, it expects turnover to break 60 million euros. Sales broken down geographically with 26% in Italy, 35% in Asia (China, Korea, and Japan) and 39% in the rest of the world (Europe and USA).
 
Much loved by international retailers, MSGM counts some 650 multi-brand client and department store accounts.
 
“It’s all great news. We needed a major investment in order to take MSGM to another level. Opening great boutiques costs money and now we have the capital to do so,” enthused Giorgetti backstage.
 
Currently, the brand has 10 boutiques (one in Milan and Tokyo; and two each in Korea, Hong Kong, China, and the Middle East; with flagship stores due to open this year in London and New York. While over the next three years, the goal is to open 30 more MSGM boutiques.
 
No wonder Massimo seems so happy.