BYBLOS

BYBLOS is an italian brand born in 1973 on the initiative of Arnaldo Girombelli (founder of Genny Holding) and his brother Sergio.

For the first years of life, the young and fresh style of the brand is linked to the visionary genius of a twenty-year-old Gianni Versace, who worked as creative director from 1977 to 1979. He was succeeded by the French designer Guy paulin (1979-1982); then it is the turn of the two English composed by Keith Varty and Alan Cleaver, who draw the collections from ’83 to ’96. This is Byblos’ golden period which becomes an internationally recognized brand and represents very well the Italian ability to tame creativity to create projects aimed at the market. In 1997 the American director Richard Tyler was called to the artistic direction, followed by the young man (with a degree from Harvard University) John Bartlett, who remained creative director until 2002, when Swinger International SpA, a Verona-based company specialized in designing , production and distribution of garments and accessories of high-end clothing, acquires the brand thus producing all the collections, both women and men. In 2003 the creative team is formed by a trio of designers who have collaborations with great names of the Italian priest-a-porter: Stefano Citron (formerly Krizia and Mila Schoen), Federico Piaggi (former Max Mara, Sportmax, Trussardi, Valentino , Mila Schoen) and Greg Myler (ex Erreuno, Krizia, Mila Schoen).

Manuel Facchini is the creative director of the Maison today. Born in 1973, his mantra is an experimentalism that knows no limits, except those dictated by the needs of industrial production. The vocation to develop a style that evolved on the tracks of continuous innovation in forms and concepts, Manuel refined and strengthened it in his favorite city, London, where he discovered a world that was previously unknown to him: “While I was attending Central Saint Martins School I was able to measure myself with a dimension of pure creativity that has opened new horizons, not only in the community of young school stylists, but also by observing the habits of people on the street, the original way of expressing oneself and to get dressed; many different attitudes that leave, each in its own way, the sign “.

In 2009 the online magazine signed Byblos was born, with insights and curiosity about the contemporary, ranging from fashion to design, from art to high tech and lifestyle, all filtered through the point of view of the creative director of the house. Another important declination of Byblos taste, which underlines the strong link between the brand and art, especially the contemporary one, is undoubtedly the five-star hotel located in Varese, in the enchanting structure of Villa Amistà, the Byblos Art Hotel: a sumptuous manor house of the early sixteenth century, conceived as a permanent exhibition of contemporary art, as well as a collection of works by artists from all over the world.

One of the fundamental aspects of the Byblos style, as reinvented by Facchini, is the anfani on the voluptuous plasticity of the shapes and on the sculptural and enveloping consistency of the volumes, which shape up-to-date silhouettes with a sensual and futuristic look. A baroque glam that underlines cinematic and iconographic influences, and a remarkable research into the relationship between body and dress that, taking life from knitwear development, gradually declines in solid but weightless fabrics, such as faille, mikado and organza double. The identity of the collections that bear the mark of Manuel Facchini is essentially defined by a syncretic view of reality: “In my mind, seemingly irreconcilable concepts are added up and contrasted, which then, reaching a final synthesis, become the base of the stylistic project: for example the art of Damien Hirst that sets, sublimating, the moment that separates life from death, assembled with the seventies rock style, or the rigorous and evocative aesthetics of the samurai costumes that combines with the plastic spirit of the works of Santiago Calatrava. “.