SUNNEI isn’t just a fashion brand, they’re more of a lifestyle and a creative collective. Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina originally created SUNNEI as a menswear brand and it has now branched out as so much more. The Milanese brand gained a large part of its following by it’s social media presence and for creating pieces that merged streetwear with practicality and a smart sense of design. Focusing on art and design, the two designers have created a digital platform in the form of SUNNEI Canvas and have hosted an array of design, music, and art performance takeovers on their social channels. Get to know the brand merging reality and digital and introducing a new sense of light and creativity to the fashion world.
Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina
How do your diverse backgrounds (French and Italian) influence the aesthetic and style that SUNNEI is famous for?
The blend of our cultures appears in the bold, ironic traits of the brand which are clearly influenced by Simone’s South Italian origins and in the simplicity of shapes and refinement retractable to Loris’ French background. It is also true that, beside where we come from, SUNNEI is mainly affected by our relationship with Milan: the city where we decided to live
years ago and where the brand was born spontaneously.
How did the brand come about? Neither of you studied fashion or design but have been incredibly successful. Why do you think this is? Are you able to think outside of the box to aspire for different results?
We founded SUNNEI after various experiences in disparate areas of fashion. We worked in photography, buying, press which means everything but design.
Even if we changed direction these activities gave us a 360° overview of the field and our “naivety” helped us maintain an open-minded approach. Moreover, the lack of previous experiences gave us the possibility of approaching this field without any preconceived notion and starting from scratch. As a consequence, we learnt everything by doing it: from selecting the right fabrics to organizing pre-show fittings.
What does Sunnei stand for as a brand and where does the name come from?
SUNNEI has been envisioned as an independent entity that could distance itself from what is generally imposed by fashion schemes, especially in the Milanese context.
Since the beginning we have been giving priority to authenticity rather than forcing ourselves to follow canonical patterns: our collections are the result of what we like, see and imagine.
We created a system of our own, based on a community of creatives from all around the world who values content over form. The name itself encapsulates the spirit of the brand: “SUNNEI” is how we imagined Italians would spell the english word “sunny” which is a way to make fun of the use of english terms in other languages.
You’re both based in Milan now. Renown for being such an important city in the fashion industry, how does living in Milan influence both your personal lives and the brand?
There is an authentic connection between us and Milan which is naturally reflected in SUNNEI and in various projects we developed: for example in occasion of our SS20 fashion show we re-generated an area in the outskirts of the city which has now taken the name of BIANCO SUNNEI making it a poly-functional space with great potential to exploit.
Refinement, creativity, irony and timeless beauty are few of the characteristics of the city that we want to convey through SUNNEI.
Initially beginning as a menswear brand, how did SUNNEI decide to enter into the world of womenswear?
Our idea of SUNNEI goes beyond the concept of womenswear and menswear, we started from menswear and as soon as we got it under control we introduced womenswear.
Then, as we got acquainted with the ready-to-wear line, we launched accessories: we did not have any expertise in the field, but we achieved our goals by teaming up with the right partners. For example, the Dreamy shoes have become one of SUNNEI’s most recognizable pieces while the Bauletto bag is the key item we are going to focus on next.
What inspires your collections and how do your creative processes work?
SUNNEI’s collections translate what we see and live in our everyday life. We draw inspiration from the people around us: our friends, colleagues and collaborators but also from individuals we come across on the street in Milan. Social media played a big role in putting Sunnei on the forefront of international fashion.
Can you explain for us the relationship between the brand and social media?
As a brand which has taken its first steps on Instagram, the digital world has always been an integral part of SUNNEI. Social media boosted the growth of the label and a passionate fan base popped up since the very beginning. We used Instagram as a window on the world, and our strategy gave positive results because we developed an effective and recognisable language. However, we believe that the system that helped us a few years ago is now saturated. For this reason, we have now shifted to cross-media projects which merge physical and virtual realities.
During the lockdown, SUNNEI had many IG takeovers with creatives from different sectors and locations. Do you consider SUNNEI to be a creative concept as well as just fashion? How did you decide who to collaborate with? What sort of talent catches your eyes? Can you tell us about the concept of Studio SUNNEI?
Those IG takeovers were part of a project whose name is “Artists Gathering” and it was launched right after the proclamation of the Italian lockdown.
The people we collaborated with were part of the network of creatives gravitating around the brand therefore it was quite natural to look in that direction to develop the project. Those artists were experiencing the same condition of lockdown as our community and we asked them to use our social media to spontaneously express themselves.
The 40 live performances that came out of Artists Gathering explored art and its innumerable branches: from illustration to music, drawing, sculpture, cuisine, flower design, contemporary art and more.
You once stated that despite SUNNEI being an Italian based company, the clientele is mainly from other countries. Originally the first markets were in South Korea, what do you think resonates with other cultures so much with SUNNEI?
We don’t target any specific geographic area but there are certain markets – including South Korea – where the blend of minimalist lines and bold colors of the collection works particularly well.
“Everyday I wear SUNNEI” is a strong yet playful brand motto. When speaking of wearing SUNNEI, is there such a thing as a typical client? How would you define a person who wears SUNNEI?
Our clientele is looking for a timeless yet refined wardrobe and finds in SUNNEI an international community to belong to. We would like to transmit them an ideal of freedom, the opportunity of taking themselves not-that-seriously and the autonomy from fading trends.
There’s one thing that I can’t seem to get out of my mind when I think of SUNNEI. Seeing as our current state has left us highly resorting to the digital world, I wanted to say I truly adored your Spring Summer 2021 campaign video. It was a video using a digital campaign of CGI models dancing to the Macarena with the help of the digital studio, Pezzo di Studio The concept is brilliant and playful. How did this idea and the collaboration come to be? Why the Macarena?
As we previously mentioned, our collections always reflect what we live and considering the time being, we thought that a 3-D project would have resonated with the period more than trying to make something physical regardless of the situation the whole world was in. The idea of SUNNEI Canvas was there for quite some time but during the lockdown we had the time to develop it properly and make it come to life in the way we wanted. We decided to present this first part of the SS21 collection with the Macarena because it’s something that everybody is familiar with and that represents our idea of not taking ourselves seriously no matter what.
Speaking of the above, can you tell us about SUNNEI Canvas and the digital world you’re creating? The campaign video we discussed was also used as an exclusive digital platform for buyers. How did this work and what was the reaction from the industry?
SUNNEI CANVAS finds its meaning in a renewed one-to-one relationship between the brand and its partners, with whom one-of-a-kind collections are co-created along with tailored contents. The project works on the juxtaposition between real life and virtual experience and it aims to become an on-going, parallel side of the brand’s world. The
industry got intrigued by this ambitious venture that was communicated in a simple and relatable language.
The second part of the project went live in September for Spring Summer 21 during Milan’s womenswear Fashion Week? How was it to be a part of the event for the first time? Can you tell us about the pieces that were unveiled and how it ties into SUNNEI Canvas?
SUNNEI’s Spring Summer 2021 part II was presented on the 24th of September inside the empty swimming pool of the Lido Di Milano: a mesmerizing location which could host the show as the swimming pool was not filled up with water this year. Even if Canvas proved us that it was possible to present a new collection without a physical event, this time we decided to organize a real show as an inspirational act of rebirth: for those 100 Milan-based guests who were there and for the whole community who attended the event virtually watching our live-stream video. This second part was complementary to SUNNEI Canvas because “3-D” has been replaced by “real”, “virtual” by “physical” and, while the Canvas collection was composed by carry-overs, the other section is based on experimentation and research even at a design level.
You’ve collaborated with brands such as Valextra and RETROSUPERFUTURE. Who else would you both love to collaborate with and why?
We haven’t thought about it because in the middle of the typical chaos surrounding the universe of co-branding ventures, SUNNEI’s previous collaborations came out from waiting for meaningful opportunities. For example, a mutual interest in timeless authenticity, quality and values is what had been long awaited and found in Valextra. While regarding RETROSUPERFUTURE, that was the first approach to sunglasses SUNNEI had ever had and now these accessories have become crucial to the brand.
What are your ideas on mass-consumerism? How do you feel SUNNEI aligns with the current evolution of sustainable fashion?
We think that this pandemic has shifted consumer priorities towards a “do more with less” attitude, and SUNNEI’s no-trend philosophy goes exactly in this direction, we design pieces that are versatile being appropriate for disparate occasions of use.
What’s next for SUNNEI? What new projects can we look forward to?
October is going to be a month rich with projects: we are developing a lot of material that concerns the FW20 collection which is hitting store floors in the next few weeks.
A special thank you to Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina.
