10 Years Upstairs With The Attico
From vintage-inspired robes to Cher in custom cargo pants, Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini reflect on a decade of instinct that still runs The Attico.
Words by Cait Monahan
There’s a particular kind of momentum that comes from meeting someone who sees the world exactly the way you do, and a decade ago that momentum found Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini while they were both still in fashion school in Milan. What started as a shared instinct, a matching sense of style backed by an equally matched resilience, eventually catalyzed into something bigger than either of them could have planned for on their own: a womenswear label built around the idea that women could see themselves in the clothes rather than in some invented ideal. That label became The Attico.
Ambrosio and Tordini didn’t start with an office. For over a year, they didn’t have one. Split between New York and Milan, “The Attico was built between hotel rooms, apartments and airports,” Ambrosio says.
There’s a version of this story that skips straight to the milestones. The 140 stockists in year one. The Ruffini investment. The Nike collaboration. But Ambrosio returns to a feeling. “Looking back, it feels incredibly romantic,” she says of those early months. No structure. No routine. Just two friends chasing an instinct before it became a global success.
The name itself carries more weight than it first suggests. “Attico” is Italian for penthouse, or attic; the highest point of a building. For Ambrosio, there was always more to the name than wordplay. “An attic is the highest point of a building; a place with a view, full of personality and intimacy,” she says. The brand was meant to live at the intersection of fashion, interiors, art, lifestyle. Ten years on, she says that’s still the universe they’re building.
The woman they dress has changed shape without changing attitude. Ambrosio describes the early The Attico consumer as someone who mostly existed after dark. “In the beginning, our woman mostly lived from 8:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m.,” she says. Eveningwear, glamour, the drama of getting dressed for a night that mattered. Now, that same woman moves through tailoring, denim, cargo pants, flats. She’s expanded, “she’s independent, instinctive and dresses for herself,” Ambrosio says.
What started as two friends sketching between countries is now a team of around sixty people, a calendar full of meetings, a business with real stakes and real challenges. But the working relationship at the center hasn’t shifted. “Most ideas don’t come from immediate agreement,” Tordini says. “They come from discussion, sometimes even disagreement.” They’ve started calling it the third voice in the room, The Attico itself, the thing that emerges when their instincts land somewhere neither of them expected alone.
Ask Tordini what she’s proudest of after a decade and she doesn’t mention a collection or a campaign. She talks about recognition. “People instantly recognize The Attico,” she says. Not just the clothes; the identity underneath them. “People don’t just wear The Attico; they recognize themselves in it.”
That word, recognition, helps to build her definition of success. “Success, for us, is longevity,” Tordini says. Trends move fast and mean less than they used to. What’s harder, she argues, is building something that still looks like itself a decade later; growing without losing the point of view.
The brand’s tenth anniversary show will be an amalgamation of this instinct, recognition and attitude, which commences at Milan Fashion Week on September 25. “It’s a reflection on identity, contradictions and the many facets of the women who inspire us,” she says. “We’re excited, emotional and probably a little nervous,” she says. “Which is exactly how it should feel.”
As the conversation continues, Ambrosio and Tordini expand on the past decade, and the products, people and partnerships that have built The Attico world.
There’s a version of femininity in your clothes that feels very alive. Where does that come from?
Ambrosio: It comes from the fact that we never wanted to define femininity in just one way. We’ve always been fascinated by contrasts; strength and sensuality, tomboyish attitude and glamour, precision and spontaneity. Our collections are built around those opposites because that’s how real women are. Rather than creating an ideal woman, we’ve always imagined a world where different women could recognize themselves. That’s why The Attico has never felt tied to a single aesthetic. It’s more about an attitude than a specific look.
I think the industry still tends to underestimate women. There is often the idea that they constantly need something completely new, when in reality they are looking for pieces that make them feel like the best version of themselves. A woman doesn’t build her wardrobe around trends; she builds it around confidence, personality and versatility. That’s why we’ve always preferred creating clothes with a strong point of view rather than chasing what feels relevant for a single season. We believe longevity begins with emotional connection.
What do you design differently now than you did at the start, and is there anything from those early collections you’d bring back exactly as it was?
Tordini: When we launched The Attico, the focus was almost entirely on evening dressing. Our first collections were built around robes, kimono-inspired silhouettes and vintage prints, with the idea of bringing intimate pieces into everyday life. As the brand evolved, we realized our woman wanted to stay in The Attico throughout her entire day, not just at night. That naturally led us into denim, tailoring and eventually pieces like the Fern cargo pants, which became one of our signature styles and have been worn by everyone from A$AP Rocky and Rihanna to Dua Lipa and Cher.
The same evolution happened with footwear. Glamorous shoes have always been part of our identity, but today that language has expanded into more versatile, sport-inspired styles like our Floor 01 flats. If we could bring something back exactly as it was, it would probably be those first robes. Looking at them today still feels incredibly emotional because they represent the purest expression of where everything began.
You’ve done bags, swimwear, athleisure. Which expansion felt like the biggest risk at the time, and did it pay off the way you hoped?
Tordini: Every new category comes with a certain level of risk because people initially associate you with something very specific. When we started, everyone knew The Attico for evening dressing. Expanding into accessories, and especially handbags, was probably the biggest challenge. It’s one of the most competitive categories in fashion, so creating a bag with a strong enough identity to truly stand out is never easy. Today, seeing women carrying La Passeggiata in completely different ways and in different cities around the world is incredibly rewarding.
The same happened with denim. It started as a natural extension of our wardrobe and has gradually become one of the strongest pillars of the brand. We love when a category grows organically rather than being introduced because the market expects it.
When you’re deep in a collection and it’s not working, what’s the thing that usually breaks it open again?
Ambrosio: We usually stop looking at fashion for a moment. Our references have always come from architecture, interiors, cinema, art, music or simply from observing women around us. Sometimes when you’re too immersed in a collection, you lose perspective. Taking a step back and returning to the original idea almost always unlocks something. Whenever we ask ourselves, “Would this genuinely belong in The Attico?” the answer usually becomes very clear.
Who is someone you’ve dressed that surprised you? Tell us about how you connected and what it was like to work with them?
Ambrosio: Cher has always been one of our greatest icons. She has represented a fearless kind of femininity for generations, so she has been a source of inspiration for us since the very beginning.
Years later, her stylist, and another icon for us, Patti Wilson reached out because Cher was looking for custom looks for her performance at the amfAR Gala in Cannes. Seeing her wearing a custom-made suit and later our Fern cargo pants was a surreal moment. Those are the moments that remind you why you started. Someone who inspired your imagination for years suddenly becomes part of your own story.
What’s your most surprising favorite find from your archive?
Tordini: Probably our very first collection. It was almost entirely made of robes, kimonos and vintage-inspired dressing gowns. Every time we revisit those pieces, we’re reminded of a moment when everything still felt completely unknown. We were deeply committed to the project, but we couldn’t possibly imagine where it would lead us. Looking through that collection today is incredibly emotional because it reminds us that before The Attico became a brand, it was simply an idea. And somehow, that original instinct is still visible in every collection we create.
If you could sit across from the two women who started this ten years ago, what would you want them to know?
Tordini: We would probably tell them not to overthink so much and to trust their instincts even more. When we started, we were serious about what we were creating, but we had absolutely no idea where it would lead us. We couldn’t have imagined the collections, the runway shows, the stores around the world or the incredible people we would meet along the way.
We would simply tell them to enjoy the process a little more. Everything they were worrying about at the time eventually became part of the journey.
Photographer
Michelle Pan