Anna Zegna enters the room like a bolt of lightning arcing over a corn field at dusk. One minute her office is quiet and still, with soft shadows caressing the books and fabrics on her desk, the next it's full of blinding energy as Zegna sits down while issuing orders to three members of her staff and grabbing a bottle of water to moisten her kinetic lips. She throws a 'Salve!' at me and a 'Ciao!' at the back of an assistant who has been sent to get espressos. 'See,' she says. 'It is done.'
Zegna is talking about the fall / winter 2009 collection for the brand's top-end Ermenegildo Zegna line. We have just watched it thunder down the runway in Zegna's Milan headquarters, accompanied by a blitz of techno jazz beneath subterranean lighting. The signature Zegna pinstripe was everywhere but it's been recast in the colour of Chianti, a lovely burgundy shade running through tailored suits and cropped jackets, some of which look so Siamese-cat soft that nobody would have been shocked if they had started to purr.
'We didn't want to use the usual white or off-white stripe because that is relatively boring,' says Zegna who is the image director for a brand that last year had sales of more than 700 million euros (HK$6.9 billion). Zegna bounces from her chair to grab a sandwich - 'I haven't eaten all day,' she wails - and offers food to everybody in the room, as if we are one big happy family. She picks up her thread. 'Burgundy was the perfect mix of elegance, sophistication and youth. We were looking for a colour that was masculine and modern but which belongs to our tradition.'
Tradition - and family - are as fundamental to an Ermenegildo Zegna suit as buttons and thread. The company - which has sometimes been accused of being too conservative - will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year and it is still independent, still family owned. In a world where many luxury goods purveyors have been frozen by fear of the onrushing recession Zegna, free from debt and the demands of shareholders, is looking for ways to expand and redefine its industry.
'Luxury has never been confined to the frivolous or eccentric,' says Zegna, pulling a piece of paper from her handbag. 'I was playing with the word last night, to define what it means to me. I wrote L is for long term, U is for unique, X is for exclusive, U is for user friendly, because the product needs to improve your life, R is for respectful because we have been through too many years when most people didn't care what was out there and the Y is for Joyful.'
'Y is for Joyful?' I ask. Zegna laughs. 'You know what I mean, carina!'