Giorgia Gabriele is 37 and used to be a buyer for a concept store in Bologna. She started thinking about Armarium as an answer to her own need: to build a wardrobe that was solid, complete, made of everlasting pieces. “It has coincided with the pandemic and lockdown; they made me move away from the desire for seasonal fashion, made of trends, and get closer to the concept of a capsule wardrobe,” she said.
The brand was launched at the beginning of 2022 with a Latin name that means wardrobe and an approach removed from the traditional seasons of the fashion business. The first collection was meant to represent the foundation of the wardrobe, with trench coats and jeans. The new series of pieces, all thought of as year-round, will expand season after season, in order to achieve the perfect wardrobe, according to Gabriele. If such a thing exists, the designer thinks it includes men’s-cut coats and blazers, petticoat dresses, and longuette skirts over shirts and turtlenecks. So far there are no prints or vibrant colors, in part to make it easier to match different pieces.
Everything is produced in Italy, including the first Armarium bag, produced in two sizes and inspired by one owned by the designer’s grandmother, with a bellow closure. The accessories and garments are worth looking at up close, where they reveal small details. Armarium is a women’s line, but “many male buyers have seen the collection in the last few days and have tried the coats on and found them very suitable,” said Gabriele. Mindful of a wider idea of lifestyle, not just related to clothes, she also designs furniture, which she used to display the collection. “My desire is to create a world, and a physical space, in which people can recognize themselves 360,” she said.
