Italian luxury fashion house Sergio Soldano stepped back into public view this February at Printemps New York, presenting its Fall/Winter 2026–27 women’s ready-to-wear collection during New York Fashion Week, its first major showing since Maestro Sergio Soldano’s passing in Genoa in 2005, and the brand’s first full collection since Desire Holding S.A. acquired it in 2024.
Soldano was born in Genoa in 1936 and launched his house in 1968, presenting haute couture in Rome and ready-to-wear in Florence at a time when Milan had not yet established itself as Italy’s fashion capital. His collections went on to show in New York, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Moscow, Montreal, and Monaco.
His client list included Elizabeth Taylor, Ursula Andress, Gina Lollobrigida, Raquel Welch, Grace Jones, Joan Collins, Monica Vitti, and Virna Lisi. His designs crossed into cinema as well, with Taylor wearing his iconic poncho in Zoe & Company, Laura Antonelli wearing his cloak in The Divine Nymph, and Lisi was costumed by him in Bluebeard opposite Richard Burton. Italian press called him the “terrifying enfant” of fur and pure Italian fashion. International press settled on a simpler phrase: “the new man of fashion.”
“It was never our intention to reference the past through literal forms or silhouettes. We see Sergio Soldano’s legacy as a living visual language, expressed most powerfully through the collection’s prints. Here, memory becomes vision, and heritage is translated through elevated craftsmanship, new forms, and noble materials, shaping a renewed Sergio Soldano aesthetic rooted in Italian excellence,” said Co-Creative Director Giovanni Premoli.
Desire Holding, which had previously built its commercial infrastructure around fragrance and beauty distribution, holding licenses across Ferrari, Jacques Bogart, Liu-Jo, Alfa Romeo, and Sergio Tacchini among others, acquired the Sergio Soldano brand through its Italian subsidiary Desire Fragrances S.r.l. Co-creative directors Premoli and Dario Di Bella were appointed, and by September 2024, the brand had already staged its first public preview, the Tableau D’Art exhibitions, held simultaneously at the Palazzo Imperiale in Genoa and at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, where hand-painted sketches from the upcoming collection were shown publicly for the first time. February’s NYFW debut was not an overnight move, having been a sequenced re-entry spanning over a year.
Di Bella said, “Both this collection and this evening are born from a deep belief shared with Maestro Sergio Soldano: that fashion holds an emotional truth and that it is one of the most authentic languages through which culture, memory and imagination can be expressed. Fashion is not only about form, but about feeling, gesture and storytelling. Being here tonight, surrounded by friends, supporters and partners such as FGI and Printemps New York, feels like the most meaningful way to honour that vision and to celebrate the return of the House of Sergio Soldano.”
Presented in partnership with Fashion Group International Inc. (FGI), the collection was shown at Printemps New York’s Financial District location. Guests ascended to the second floor and entered the Boudoir, a space styled with Art Deco references and a French atmosphere the brand used as an immersive frame for the collection. Selected looks were suspended overhead, others arranged along the room’s perimeter. Models moved through the space in a live performance rather than standing still, and violinist Lauren Cauley performed alongside vocalist Minda Larsen, shifting the evening closer to theatre than trade show.
FGI President and CEO Maryanne Grisz, Printemps America CEO Thierry Prevost, fashion industry veteran Fern Mallis, Jason Schupbach, Nicole Fischelis, Alyce Panico, Olga Ferrara, Nolan Meader, and Antonio Lemma, Founder of Desire Holding S.A., were present.
Premoli and Di Bella have built a 107-piece collection, comprising 77 garments and 27 accessories across ready-to-wear, footwear, handbags, and accessories, without referencing the original house’s archival silhouettes. Every form is newly conceived.
Prints have been created through oil painting on canvas and transferred onto silk and other fine fabrics, a technically involved process that produces a painterly depth and texture that distinguishes them from conventionally printed surface design. It is an expensive, time-consuming method, and its choice as the collection’s defining craft positions the house clearly within a Made in Italy argument that many contemporary luxury brands invoke without quite demonstrating.
Prevost of Printemps America, said, “The return of Sergio Soldano feels both timely and timeless. At Printemps New York, we’re drawn to brands that honor where they come from while confidently finding a new voice, and this collection reflects that spirit beautifully.”
Four thematic chapters organise the collection. The Architecture of Black, the Revelation of the Anemone establishes sculptural leather silhouettes and a handcrafted leather anemone flower as the house’s new signature motif. Genoa, Return to Origins translates the city’s historic palazzi and urban perspectives into graphic silk prints and sculptural forms. Squares in the City, Urban Geometries works with clean lines, functional volumes, and vibrant accents for a contemporary wardrobe. The Time of Sinopia, Rebirth draws its visual language from the preparatory fresco drawings found along Via XX Settembre in Genoa, connecting the collection’s forward movement to a much older Italian artistic tradition.
Maryanne Grisz of FGI said, “Fashion Group International Inc. has always stood at the intersection of fashion heritage and future innovation. It is our honor to celebrate the Sergio Soldano legacy while supporting fashion leaders of the future like Giovanni Premoli and Dario Di Bella, as they, with the support of Desire Holding and in partnership with Printemps New York, chart an inspired new course for the house of Sergio Soldano.”
Retail partnerships with several U.S. retailers were confirmed during 2025 market week. Desire Fragrances S.r.l., the Italian subsidiary through which the Sergio Soldano brand was acquired, holds full production and licensing rights to the house.
