A Dispatch from the Temple of Menswear
Antonio Ciongoli turned 30 last week. Not a big deal, you say? What if I told you that Antonio has two kids? Not doing it for you? Okay… But what if I told you that while in college Antonio worked with a DC sponsored Skater to design a series of shoes? What if I told you that by age 26 Antonio was Michael Bastian’s right hand man and Deputy Creative Director after leaving Ralph Lauren where he was designing for Rugby? What if I told you that by the time of his 30th birthday Antonio was hard at work on his third collection for Eidos Napoli, little brother brand of the famed Isaia, where he is the founding creative director? Oh now I got your attention…The Coda sat down with Antonio at the temple of Menswear, the Isaia show room, just a stone’s throw away from Lincoln Center, to hear about his life, what motivates him and most importantly his newest venture.
In an industry that effectively dictates that everything you did six months ago isn’t worth anything, consistency and timelessness is refreshing.
By age 26, Antonio Ciongoli was Michael Bastian’s right-hand man and deputy creative director after leaving Ralph Lauren. By 30, he was knee-deep in designing his third collection as the founding creative director for Eidos Napoli, younger brother of the famed Isaia.
The Coda sat down with Antonio at Isaia’s showroom—just a stone’s throw from Lincoln Center—to talk about life, what motivates him, and his newest venture.
The Coda: Happy belated birthday. What an appropriate moment to reflect for our readers.
Antonio Ciongoli: I definitely wouldn’t have thought 30 years ago in Burlington, Vermont that I’d be doing this and talking with you.
TC: So you weren’t born at some small tailor’s shop outside of Naples?
AC: Ha, you’d think, but both of my great-grandfathers were actually tailors.
TC: Is that were your love for this work came from? Your grandfathers, not Vermont.
AC: It was my immediate family really. I’m the youngest of five siblings and my two older brothers and my dad put a lot emphasis on putting themselves together every day, and not just because they are Italian and want to look cool, it was deeper than that. They had a firm belief that how you put yourself together exhibited a certain amount of respect for those around you.
TC: A gentleman from the beginning.
AC: Sure, why not, but there was a lot of influence from being part of the whole New England, Ivy League prep scene as well and my dad’s clothes from Italy were the foundations of a design vocabulary that has woven its way through my entire career.
TC: Not to sound cliché here but were those experiences with your dad and brothers “the moment” that made you realize what you wanted to do?
AC: Believe it or not no, that came in college. I always drew, but never thought about design seriously. I went to USC in LA to study communications and art history. I was also a huge skater and there is a huge skateboard scene in LA. My best friend had some interesting connections and I ended up working on some skate shoes for DC
TC: One of the most well-known skate brands?
AC: Yep, pretty good break, eh? They never produced them but it really whet my appetite for design and it was there I decided that’s what I wanted to do. The unfortunate thing was I wanted to be a designer without a design degree. After six months of interviews, I was getting nowhere, so I gave up on the job front and applied to Parsons. I was accepted and right before the deadline for sending in the security deposit, I got an interview at Vineyard Vines.
TC: That’s the brand with the pink whale?
AC: Exactly. They had a design sensibility that I appreciated and strong sense of who they were which projected an authentic brand identity. Plus they were small enough that if I could get a gig, there’d be ample opportunity to learn all facets of the business.
TC: Sounds like a plan.
AC: Except the interview was for a position answering phones in their customer service center, but it was a foot in the door and I took my portfolio to the interview. I spoke with the head of customer service told him what I really wanted to do, showed him my stuff, I had taken the time to create some designs for them, and they brought in the head of design and the co-owners and I walked out with a job.
TC: Answering phones?
AC: Just for the first month! Then I was moved over to graphic design for two months and by the time I left I was designing all their kids clothes and men’s and women’s accessories. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to witness firsthand what this business is like. Plus it opened up the door to Ralph Lauren, as my boss was originally from there and ended up returning, leading to a position at Rugby.
TC: That was RL’s younger brand right?
AC: Exactly, it was Ralph’s take on updating the Ivy-League aesthetic.
TC: How was working at what is arguably one of the world’s most well-known brands?
AC: One of the greatest experiences of my life. Great mentors, fantastic people, it was a fantastic place to be, and to be honest I couldn’t be doing Eidos without that experience.But like all things, there was something missing and that was that my love for my Italian heritage of mine wasn’t being fulfilled. Ralph Lauren is decidedly un-Italian, in fact I think that is part of the employee handbook. So I started a little blog called 13th and Wolf to be an outlet for that creative side. So when everyone was talking about the urban lumberjack I was writing about driving shoes, soft shouldered suits and Gianni Agnelli.
TC: I’m sensing something came of this…
AC: How’d you guess? One of the designers I had a lot of respect for was Michael Bastian. He was pretty unique in the sense that there was a lot of mixing of styles, this newtake on the Ivy-preppy look, coupled with some more Italian silhouettes and everything being made in Italy. I started writing about Michael and he got a Google Alert and ended up commenting on my blog! After I calmed down I sent him an email asking if I could interview him and he ended up inviting me to his show. So we get coffee and he starts telling me all these things I couldn’t publish and he mentioned that he would be expanding his company and wanted to know if I’d be interested. A month later he calls me with the offer to be number two in design.
TC: How old were you when this happened?
AC: 26. Trust me, I knew the gravity of the situation. I spent the next few years with Michael working on everything, from the main collections to his collaborations with Gant, Havaianas, Stubbs & Wootton, and Uniqlo. It was a great experience.
TC: So now we arrive at Eidos. Tell us about this incredible brand you helped found.
AC: This is exciting part. Eidos is a line that embodies everything that I believe in as a designer. These are the clothes that I want to wear, and to a large extent, the clothes many of my friends have asked for over the years. Eidos is Greek for “the true form or soul of something” and that’s what we’re trying to do here. Tailoring in Italy is as much a soulful expression as painting or sculpting and we strive to put the tailoring front and center. People talk about the “maker movement” in New York—the Italy’s ‘makers’ have been doing this for hundreds of years and we take pride not only in where these garments are made, but also in their inspiration. Our shirt-maker’s factory is attached to his house; our knit-maker is a third generation family-run business. This is the foundation of Eidos. For example, the first collection, This is Rome, was inspired by William Klein’s Rome, the definitive photo essay of the City, which brought me back to my years living there studying art history. It helped meremember the textures of the city and the colors of the Romans themselves. If you look at Klein’s photos from over 50 years ago and go to Rome now everything is the same, the shops, the restaurants, and the clothes people wear—it’s called the eternal city for a reason. And that’s what we set out to do, we didn’t want to design a line that would disappear or shoot a simple look book, we wanted to create a love letter to Rome and the timelessness of the city. Italians, while fashionable, are not beholden to trends nor do they treat their clothes with kid gloves and that’s exactly what we wanted this line to be. I want my grandson to be rifling through my stuff, find an Eidos piece and not think twice about wearing it, not only because it’s classic, but because it’s gotten better the more it was worn. In an industry that effectively dictates that everything you did six months ago isn’t worth anything, consistency and timelessness is refreshing.
TC: Based on what I’m seeing you’ve done that pretty effectively.
AC: We’re very humbled by the reception the line’s received. Especially something new with very little to compare it to, but people from all different tastes seem to be drawn to it— the dude in all black wearing Nike Flyknits or Margielas, the young professional who doesn’t have many options at this price point or the guy who has all of his suits made by hand on Savile Row andis looking for that perfect polo he saw on a dude reading the paper in Piazza del Roma in Capri. We’ve tried to remove the preciousness out of the clothing, throwing in that New England ‘wear it to death’ mentality and I think that plays a big part.
TC: So what’s next for the line?
AC: We just got back from shooting the look book for our second collection, Faces of Firenze, on location in Florence. I am a full-on failed art history professor, it’s what I always wanted to do and it seems to keep finding a way back into my life. I’ve always been fascinated in the relationship between the artist and patron and no city in the world better reflects this than Florence. When I was last there I went to the Capelli Medici, part of the Basilica San Lorenzo. This is where all the Medici princes are buried and it made me think long and hard about the relationship between patron and artist. The Medicis where perhaps history’s greatest arts patrons. Lorenzo di Medici discovered Michelangelo and shaped his entire career. This concept is still alive and well in Florence, and this line is intended to celebrate that. We actually shot with many of these local artisans and I’m proud to put a spotlight on these artists who are not known outside of the real connoisseurs.
TC: So what city is next?
AC: Next season is Ischia. My family is originally from there and I’ve always wanted to make that connection. But the genesis came from an interview my dad did with NPR about 15 years ago. He used to work for an organization called the National Italian American Foundation and they took Joe DiMaggio to his home town in Sicily, Isola della Femine. DiMaggio came from Sicilian fishermen and in the interview they said he had the soul of a fisherman. Which is to say that Fisherman have a certain nobility about their place in history. They don’t lament that place, they do their duty, day in and day out. That really struck me and I was listening to the interview when I was on a design trip in Naples and looking out over the bay, watching the fisherman and seeing Ischia in the distance. It all just came together. So while water will have a central place, it won’t be a nautical theme. Think sunset on the eve of a storm, not nautical stripes. We’re going to Ischia at the end of summer to shoot.
TC: I think we’ve invoked enough jealousy in our readers. Lightening round time. Favorite restaurant?
AC: Savore on Sullivan Street
TC: Dream job, other than the one you have now?
AC: Opening up my own menswear store, a place where a guy can go to get that perfect, timeless item, that won’t break the bank.
TC: Favorite band?
AC: Bruce Springsteen and the Clash
TC: Last thing you saw at Lincoln Center?
AC: The ballet
TC: First experience at Lincoln Center?
AC: The ballet, it’s my wife’s favorite
TC: When you think of Lincoln Center…
AC: The architecture, the open space, there’s nothing like it.
TC: Will we see a Songs of Lincoln Center collection?
AC: Ha, I’ve got a lot of Italy left to cover…
Words and Photos by Andrew Kalish
