Costume National
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy |
| Products | clothing, footwear, handbags, perfume, lingerie, cosmetics. |
| Website | http://www.costumenational.com/ |
CoSTUME NATIONAL is the name of an Italian fashion house, founded in Milan in 1986 by Ennio Capasa, a fashion designer from Lecce.
The head office is currently in Milan in Via Fusetti; actual manufacturing for the Costume National and Costume National Homme brands takes place in the organization’s own production plants in Thiene near Vicenza in Italy.
Footwear and shoe production is carried out in the Fosso plant in Venice Province while eyewear, glasses, perfumes, the second line C’N’C' Costume National and leather and hide items are produced under licence.
Womenswear collections are presented at the Paris fashion parades and men’s in Milan during the annual fashion week in Spring.
Background and history
The firm made its début on the fashion runway in 1986 with its first women's ready-to-wear collection in Milan; today it continues to present new creations for women during Paris fashion week.
The first menswear collection was launched in 1993 at Pitti Immagine Uomo; in more recent years men’s clothes have been regularly presented at the annual Moda Uomo fashion shows in Milan.
Two years later in 1995, the first flagship stores were opened Milan, Tokyo and New York followed by stores in Rome and Los Angeles.
As well as ready-to-wear clothes for men and women, the designer label embarked on the manufacture of perfumes, cosmetics (Costume National Scent) and lingerie, and 2004 saw the launch of the C’N’C line aimed at a younger clientele.
Working relationships and joint projects
In 2005 CoSTUME NATIONAL worked on a design project with Ducati; this resulted in special collections of T-shirt, belts, jackets and sneakers.
The following year Black Dogo appeared, a limited run of the Ducati Monster.
In 2007, to mark the twenty-first anniversary of the label there were many collaborations: notable projects were the staging - together with Michel Gondry - of the L'arte del sogno exhibition, a project with Alfa Romeo on a limited version of the 147, and finally together with Absolut the design of a vodka bottle – again with a limited production run.
References
- 21 CoSTUME NATIONAL, Assouline Publishing, 2007 ISBN 9782759401697