At first glance, Kiton and J Balvin may seem like strange bedfellows. But a deeper dive uncovers similarities.
The luxury Neapolitan brand and the Colombian singer first bonded when Balvin was looking for a tuxedo for a gala — the best that New York City had to offer — and a friend recommended Kiton, according to Ulderico Klain, grandson of the brand’s founder, Ciro Paone. The artist visited the Kiton townhouse on 54th Street, picked out fabrics and had a tuxedo made for his event. He also wore the formalwear look in a video he made with Ryan Castro, another Colombian singer, Klain said.
“After that, he became a client,” Klain said, adding that Balvin bought some more pieces at the New York store and began “chatting on Instagram.” He then invited Klain to his 40th birthday party at a castle in Tuscany, where they started to discuss working together on a capsule.
“From the outside, Kiton and Balvin can look different,” he said, “but once we got to know one another, we got close. Napolitano and South America are very similar in terms of value and he had a beautiful attitude about fashion, so we decided to do something together.”
That resulted in the creation of a capsule that will launch Wednesday at the New York townhouse before traveling around the U.S. to different high-profile events.
The capsule will include a tuxedo, “because that was the first piece he bought from Kiton,” Klain said. Called the Ciro, after the company’s founder, it is based on an old model with a more relaxed fit. There’s also a double-breasted suit, a full leather suit and coat, a white silk suit inspired by the Giorgio Armani suit worn by Al Pacino in “Scarface,” and the pièce de résistance: a full crocodile overshirt and pants.
The capsule will range in price from $18,000 to $22,000 for the suits and $40,000 for the leather outfit to between $600,000 and $700,000 for the crocodile.
Klain said that each piece will be made-to-measure for individual clients.
“When I first met José [J Balvin], I immediately appreciated his genuine sensitivity to quality and to what we do at Kiton,” said Antonio Paone, president of Kiton. “It felt natural for us to become friends and for him to become a client, and from that relationship, we started thinking about taking it one step further, bringing together our visions and creativity to create something different. José is an extraordinary personality. At first glance, he comes from a world that may seem very different from ours, but we soon discovered that we share so many of the same values. Family above all, but also respect for craftsmanship, a passion for quality and the desire to do things well. It is this connection, beyond our differences, that makes us so proud of this collaboration.”
“What I love most about Kiton is not just their attention to detail and craftsmanship, but the values of the people behind it,” Balvin said. “There’s a real sense of family in everything they do, which connects deeply with my own DNA and where I come from. Every piece in this collection is truly special, and I’m excited for the world to see what we created together.”
To unveil the collaboration, Balvin, Kiton management and special guests from the music, art and sports world were invited to an intimate dinner at the upscale New York restaurant he co-owns, El Cielo, on Tuesday night.
After launching at the Kiton store, where it will be shown through Saturday, the collection will then begin what the brand is calling a “commercial caravan” for top clients. That will include stops at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, then the Kiton Madison Avenue store, then Las Vegas during Formula 1, Miami during Art Basel and finally at the Neiman Marcus store in Fashion Island in Newport Beach, Calif.
Klain said Kiton’s clients like the events the brand offers so they can experience the fabrics and construction firsthand. They’ll be able to do that in a new Miami shop that will be opening in time for Art Basel later this year as well as in a Houston unit that is also in the works.
“We have 12 stores in the U.S. and 70 wholesale clients,” Klain said. “We try to open two to three stores a year if we can find good locations.”
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