Introduction
Alessandro Sartori is an Italian menswear designer and the Artistic Director of ZEGNA. He began at Zegna in 1989 as a menswear designer, became Creative Director of Z Zegna in 2003 and developed the line through its launch and New York runway period. His final public Z Zegna collection, My Abstract Sunday, was shown in June 2011.
Sartori joined Berluti as Artistic Director in 2011, introducing a complete ready-to-wear wardrobe and widening the house beyond footwear. After his final Berluti collection in January 2016, Zegna announced his return as Artistic Director on 5 February; he joined in June and presented his first full season in January 2017.
His current remit covers the ZEGNA product line’s creative functions. It does not extend to Thom Browne, TOM FORD FASHION, Fondazione Zegna or independently managed textile companies within the wider Group network.
Design ethos
Sartori works through cloth, proportion and systems of dress. He loosens conventional tailoring into broad trousers, long coats, overshirts and knit layers, using tonal colour and tactile surfaces to make formality more mobile. At Berluti, the same method expanded shoemaking codes into a complete wardrobe; at ZEGNA, it has brought tailoring and sportswear into a single fluid proposition.
Material programmes are built into the collection logic. #UseTheExisting, Oasi Cashmere and Oasi Lino connect recovered or traceable fibres to specific garments and collaborations, while site-specific shows place those materials against railway stations, steelworks, landscape and temporary destination environments.
His collaborations tend to preserve the other author’s vocabulary: Jerry Lorenzo’s relaxed American wardrobe, Greg Chait’s saturated cashmere and Benjamin Millepied’s choreographic movement enter Zegna without being absorbed into an anonymous house narrative.
Disclaimer
Career history
2016
Zegna announced Alessandro Sartori’s return as Artistic Director on 5 February 2016, and he joined in June. His remit covers the ZEGNA product line’s creative functions; it does not extend to Thom Browne, TOM FORD FASHION or independently managed textile companies.
2011
Alessandro Sartori joined Berluti as Artistic Director in 2011, introduced the house’s first complete ready-to-wear wardrobe and expanded its menswear and retail system. His departure was announced on 1 February 2016 after a final collection presented in January.
2003
Alessandro Sartori became Creative Director of Z Zegna at its 2003 launch, establishing the secondary line’s first named creative office. He led its international runway programme and ended the tenure with My Abstract Sunday in June 2011.
1989
Alessandro Sartori joined Zegna in 1989 as a menswear designer and worked at the company for more than a decade before becoming Creative Director of Z Zegna. The evidence does not assign him mainline creative-director authority during this early employment period.
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