Philipp Plein at his Resort show during the Cannes Film Festival in 2018
Philipp Plein is the partying designer for the Monaco private-jet set, who has also retained his status among fashion?s elite. Harriet Quick meets a man with a keen business brain and the unashamedly alpha swagger of a self-made global entrepreneur
?I can remember going to Salone del Mobile for the launch of my furniture line. I rented a truck and drove to Milan with my former girlfriend. We set up the booth ourselves and we slept in a motel. It turned out the motel was also operating as a brothel. Each morning, we had to leave the room empty as it was booked for ?use?,? says Philipp Plein. ?We had dinner at the Autogrill on the highway every night. It was all we could afford.? Plein?s first foray in the business of design was more than 20 years ago and the memory has a fuzzy, sleazy halo. Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine
A model in Philipp Plein AW19
Today, the Philipp Plein empire encompasses menswear and womenswear collections, accessories, Philipp Plein Sport and 120 stores worldwide (some lease, others franchise), plus the menswear brand, Billionaire (a majority stake of which was purchased from Formula One managing director Flavio Briatore in 2016; it caters for gentlemen who prefer blazers to leather perfectos). It?s been reported that the group generates annual revenues of around ?300 million.
As founder, CEO and creative director, Plein exudes the pride of a self-made man. The extrover...