Simon Holloway and the future of Agnona textiles

Shortly after he was announced Creative Director of Agnona in November 2015, Simon Holloway travelled to the Piedmont for what proved to be a revelatory induction. It was here, in Italy's alpine north, that Franceso Ilorini Mo established Agnona in 1953 as a specialised wool mill, providing textiles to expert dressmakers and internationally renowned couturiers alike. By the 1970s, the company began to expand into a fully-fledged luxury fashion brand, eventually producing its own ready-to-wear, accessories and homeware; today, Ilorini Mo's many successful creations are safeguarded in the company archives in Trevero, a haul that Holloway describes as both surprising and enlightening. "I knew the brand in the same terms as most people do. Very proper Italian: good taste, excellent quality", he says, remembering his Agnona masterclass. "The story was more creative and innovative than I had realised".

A highlight was unfurling the story of Francesco Ilorini Mo himself. "I like to think of him as a fabric geek. He was obsessed with quality", remembers Holloway. In his previous roles at brands including Calvin Klein, Hogan and Jimmy Choo, Holloway had worked with Agnona fabrics, but the archives shed light on the company's full creative breadth. "The building blocks were modern; Agnona was based on ideas of femininity, incredible quality, exploration of colour" he explains.

Agnona was established during the Italian economic miracle, when industry and exports accelerated post-war growth. From early on, the mill's prestige cloths were used by Parisian haute couturiers; clients included Pierre Balmain, Hubert de Givenchy and Christian Dior. In 1970, Agnona textiles arrived on the Japanese market, Ilorini Mo in turn began travelling the world in pursuit of rare fibres. He returned to Italy with Peruvian alpaca, Vicuña from the Andes and Tibetan cashmere. "I think Agnona is a grand beautiful story that needs to be retold".

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Holloway has from the onset sought to translate Agnona's noble heritage to a modern costumer. Born in London, the 46 years old designer left his "stuffy boarding school in the North of England" aged just sixteen to enrol at the fashion department of Newcastle College of Art and Design. After two years, Holloway enrolled at Kingston University. "It was a school that was set up to make you a professional designer", he offers, describing a curriculum that taught drawing, fabric selection and pattern-cutting. In 1999, he joined the Manhattan atelier of Narcisco Rodriguez as Design Director; from 2004 onwards, Holloway spent just over three years at Polo Ralph Lauren. "Both men taught me everything I know in a way", he says of Rodriguez and Lauren. "They are my great mentors".

Both designers have left their mark on Holloway. Rodriguez mastered a pared-back aesthetic, placing focus on precisely cut choice fabrics, a practice continued by Holloway. "Minimalism is painstakingly difficult to do. Instead of making three gilets, we spend three times the amount of time fitting one and it’s all about the tonality of the different shades of cream, camel and ivory", he says. "When I worked at Ralph Lauren, he had two mind sets: one was very fantastical and the other was this beautifully executed American sportswear". Holloway's designs juxtapose patrician elegance with unexpected off-beat details. This season, he drew inspiration from David Hockney's 1968 portrait of art collectors Fred and Marcia Weisman, famous for its bright pastel shades and dreamy Southern Californian stillness. A double-faced cashmere coat interprets Hockney's brushstrokes in subtle variations of pink and cyclamen; a bright palette captures the sun-lit panoramas of The Golden State.

Following in the footsteps of Agnona's founding father, Holloway sees fabric research as integral to the futureproofing Agnona. The designer and his Milan-based team begin each season's collection by setting a colour palette for the brand's custom developed fabrics, which are dyed as yarn before being woven at Italian mills. Since 1999, Agnona is a subsidiary of Ermengildo Zegna, and many of the brand's cloths are produced in collaboration with Zegna's family-owned factories. Recent standout creations include a blue denim fabric, spun using wool and cashmere fibres, and double-faced crepe de chine.

"There’s nothing like head to toe cashmere is all different weights of knits", says Holloway, describing purl-knit cashmere jumpers worn layered over asymmetrical turtle necks and with soft jogging trousers. Rendering easy-to-wear sportswear-influenced shapes in precious materials is a hallmark of the Agnona past too: it was first explored by the brand's debut creative director Walter Albini in the 1970s.

After 14 years in Manhattan, Holloway now divides his time between his London home and the Agnona ateliers in Milan. "It’s a very refined city. They have standards there like no one else. They really know how to do things properly", he says of the Italian city. "I think it’s amazing when you see a uniformed waiter walking down the cobbled street with a single espresso in a coffee cup because somebody called the café". The designer sees his role at Agnona as both custodian and catalyst, reinforcing the brand's pursuit of exactness and quality as first discovered in its archives. "I felt that I kind of opened this book of wonder".

Earier this month, Agnona unveiled a new London, Albermarle street boutique with interiors inspired by its heritage and envisioned by Ciarmoli Queda Studio. " I have known them for quite a number of years, it was quite an easy collaboration", says Holloway of the Milanese design firm which is led by duo Simone Ciarmoli and Miguel Queda. "We started with the floor which is a Lombardian stone with a herringbone woven alpaca [rug] in the shade of taupe". To the trained eye, thoughtful details abound; at the back of the boutique, Holloway's latest creations hang from lozenge-shaped wooden display elements, their shape inspired by the shuttle used in heritage Agnona looms. "Agnona is one of the great Italian brands and the story is one that has never been told", says Holloway, explaining his choice of interior design. "In a way, this was partly about inviting customers to feel in a physical way the origins of the brand".