PROSPECTS: VERONICA DE PIANTE

For Veronica de Piante, LUXURY is SOMETHING YOU CAN FEEL.

By Karly Quadros

Veronica de Piante designs clothing her daughters will want to wear one day. Family is at the heart of all of her work, from the intergenerational Italian factories that produce her garments to the designs themselves, which draw from her Argentine and Italian heritage. This sensibility extends to her collaborations with SEP, a social enterprise project based in Jordan working to create sustainable paths to economic independence for hundreds of women and their families living in refugee camps. Her work is also timeless in the truest sense of the word—fitting any occasion, any era, with a sustainable future in mind.

Veronica de Piante leans on luxury textile: sturdy leather trench coats, grain de poudre wool blazers, sumptuous knits in soft earth tones. Double-breasted pea coats and knee-length ponchos show off subtle details. Net-a-Porter picked up the label in 2022, recognizing its versatility and quality, only four months following the brand’s launch. Now with two brick-and-mortars, in London and New York, de Piante looks to the future for herself, the planet, and her children.

KARLY QUADROS: Your upbringing was international, with roots across Italy, Argentina, and Bahrain. How do these diverse cultural experiences manifest in your designs?

VERONICA DE PIANTE: I think before manifesting in my designs, they manifested in me. My father was born and bred in Italy. My mother was born and bred in Argentina. They were both very Argentine and Italian in their own rights. Growing up in the Middle East was completely different from anything I knew. I went to university in London, started my adult life here.

I’ve always felt like I didn’t quite belong in one particular place. That became my way of thinking. I was always very open-minded. I always have been. I find it easy to go back to Bahrain. I find it easy to go back to Argentina or Italy. It’s not that I necessarily belong, but I feel comfortable. The way that translated into my designs was a reflection of me. It was like, I love that trench that reminds me of Italy, but I also love that poncho, which is completely Argentine. I love that embroidery that’s from Jordan. I love that mini skirt my mother wore in the ’60s. It was a reflection of how I grew up, of what I felt comfortable in, what I recognized.

KQ: How do these experiences across different cultures inform your creative process?

VDP: One particular story was when I was in Uruguay. I was having dinner outside with a good friend of mine, and I was freezing to death, even though it was summer. He put this huge poncho made of horsehair on my shoulders. And that inspired [this collection’s] poncho.

Italy is super inspirational to me; they really have this elegance about them. I’d be in Milan and I’d watch these women, and they’d be so put together. London has a quirky side to it. I love going down Portobello and seeing old London, London in the ’60s. All these different pieces inspire me.

KQ: Why is it important for you to maintain a connection with traditional Italian craftsmanship?

VDP: I love leather. I love a good leather jacket. I grew up amongst family-run businesses, and that’s kind of dying at the moment. Italy, to me, represents strong family ties and businesses that have been passed down through generations. They’re very passionate about it. They were born into this. I really wanted to be a part of that.

KQ: Those clothing-making techniques are dying out, too.

VDP: You see these very high-end vintage dresses, done by hand. You can’t do that anymore. It’s too expensive. We’ve lost so much of the craftsmanship.

KQ: How do you see fashion’s role in promoting social causes?

VDP: It’s a responsibility that I am very connected to. It’s really important to me. Whether it be teenage children with Artists for Humanity, helping to teach them a creative trade, [or working with] SEP, an organization that partners with women in the Jerash Camp in Jordan. I want to create awareness of the difficulties and challenges they face. I want to put them on the map. I want people to understand, to empathize, to be sensitive to what’s happening. The brand is a tool to help people be aware of the circumstances they are living in, in a modern way.

KQ: Can you tell me more about SEP?

VDP: SEP is an organization I’ve been close to since its inception over 10 years ago. It works within the Jerash Camp in Jordan, employing women refugees from nearby countries to create beautiful embroidery, offering sustainable paths to economic freedom. I visited the camp in April 2019. It can be quite a difficult visit, as a lot of these women were born and raised in the camp amidst very dire situations. They don’t have any rights. They don’t have a passport. Oftentimes, they are trapped in not very good marriages, bad situations, no money, no freedom. When they show you their work, they’re so proud. Their resilience is so inspiring to me, and their work is as beautiful as it is meaningful.

KQ: As a relatively new luxury brand, what challenges have you faced?

VDP: It’s a difficult time for luxury—everywhere. To start a luxury brand online, without being able to touch the fabrics and try things on, was very challenging. We opened a pop-up on Madison that we ended up keeping. Luxury is all about how something makes you feel. It’s not that you look at it and think, Oh, that’s so beautiful. No, you have to touch the fabric, see the make of it.

KQ: How do you balance creating contemporary pieces that are also timeless?

VDP: I’m very inspired by vintage pieces. They tell a story. You may not know what it is, but you know that it belonged to someone. You’ll see a piece from the ’60s even, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and you think, That could’ve been made today. To me, honestly, it’s always about styling. There’s a lot of beautiful coats out there, blazers, trousers. But there’s something about a piece you know you can hand over to your daughter one day, and that she’s going to make it look super cool and add her flavor to it.

That sense of timelessness is important to me. But at the same time, it can’t be too classic. It can’t be a little tea dress from the ’50s. I would not be caught dead in that. I pick and choose what makes sense to me, and then I make it so I would want to wear it today. I do that through fabrics. Modern fabrics are very different. You add your touch somehow.

My mother got rid of everything. I was so mad. She had this cool, short wedding dress. She got married in the ’70s. I was like, Why didn’t you keep that for me? I’m the opposite. I’m dying to get rid of half the things in my closet, but I have to keep them for the girls.

KQ: A short wedding dress in the ’70s!

VDP: When I look at her wedding photos, I’m like, Did she think she was Bianca Jagger? She had this wide hat. I think that’s actually quite cool and very forward-thinking.

KQ: What did you wear to your wedding?

VDP: I didn’t wear a wedding dress. I went to the John Galliano store on Rue Saint-Honoré. I saw this beautiful, cream, very simple dress that had this antique lace over it. By that time, I had a child already. She was going to be with me in church. So cream was kind of cool. I was going to wear something a little more edgy than a wedding dress.

KQ: How do you see the brand evolving?

VDP: Almost two years in, I have to say that sometimes it hasn’t sunk in. My goals are to grow. To continue these partnerships. To continue down the path of social responsibility. I want to register with all ages. I want people to have more access to the label. Obviously, success is important. But I want to stand apart for certain reasons.

I want to create beautiful, timeless pieces, but also have pieces that are more fun. I want to show more of myself in it. I like to mix it up, like my wedding dress. I would like to have something a little more eclectic.

KQ: Do you have something in mind when you say ‘a little more eclectic’?

VDP: We have a new studio in London. We started our color board yesterday. What really made me happy was that we discovered an Argentine surrealist artist who I had never heard of—Leonor Fini. She’s early 20th century. Some of her portraits of women look like beautiful aliens. The colors she uses are gorgeous. It’s giving me all this inspiration.

I’m getting more adventurous. I’m getting more confident in saying, This is me. There’s going to be an element of quirkiness in there. There’s going to be an element of the unexpected, irreverence, something that doesn’t make sense. That’s important to me.