We Love Our New Guardaroba

This spring, Reschio introduced the new Guardaroba - our staff uniforms - with a catwalk of sorts. Not quite Paris, but far more fun and practical: waiters, bartenders, gardeners, housekeepers and many more, each took their turn, bringing with them the gestures, props and rhythms of their daily work and craft. A slightly  improvised but very theatrical and eventful moment, revealing the choreography of everyday work. The intention was not only to present the garments and the various departments, but also to inspire a new generation at Reschio, to spark the imagination, and to suggest that work, when truly observed, has a richness not unlike theatre. It is something that is performed, felt, and lived, and the clothes are there to help the show! The whole estate gathered for the occasion, alongside the many manufacturers behind the project, some having travelled all the way from Milan, to witness the moment come to life.

Designing workwear brings with it a rare sort of three-dimensionality. Each piece must answer to movement, to repetition, to the physical language of a task. A pocket sits precisely where a hand expects to find it, a dress must allow one to clean with ease while lending a certain dignity to the task; a fabric must breathe, and endure the rather relentless cycle of washing and drying without complaint. But function, and the people who inhabit these garments, is only part of the story. There is also the matter of context. Each piece has been designed to belong to Reschio itself: to its landscape, its seasons, its colours, and to that broader sense of Italian history that lingers in the background. Many pieces are really in honour of that grace and dignity that workwear had in the past, before the age of polyester!

The true challenge, however, sat beneath the surface: creating a collection that was entirely free of plastic. Even the stitching thread, so often nylon, has been replaced with natural fibres, a request that raised more than a few eyebrows among manufacturers. Buttons are carved from corozo; zips have been dismissed. Everything is made in Italy, to the highest standard, and designed to withstand the reality of daily wear. It was, at times, a battle of persuasion, encouraging suppliers to revisit materials and methods long set aside. Doing the right thing rarely comes easily, but it does come with a certain satisfaction. From the outset, the ambition was simple: that, one day, each garment might return to the earth from which it came. You will now see the Guardaroba throughout the estate, worn as intended. And perhaps, in time, a piece or two may find its way into the Bottega. This project was entirely imagined and created by Nencia Bolza, together with her childhood friend Gentucca Bini, a specialist in workwear design who lives and works in Milan.