Dondup’s new era: New Milan showroom, Achille Lauro as brand’s first creative director, and catwalk show at San Siro

In a single event on the evening of May 25, Dondup unveiled its new Milan showroom, a space of more than 2,000 square metres at 30 Via Morimondo; its first creative director, Lauro De Marinis, also known as Achille Lauro; and the first drop from a new collaboration, still under wraps until its big debut: a catwalk show during the singer’s concert at San Siro on June 15.

This is not merely a marketing exercise, as Mauro Grange, CEO of Dondup, is keen to point out: “It all grew out of my friendship with Lauro and his great passion for fashion. When I told him that, in my view, Dondup had significant untapped potential, he offered to get involved, but not as a brand ambassador; he wanted to be the brand’s creative director, with a 360-degree remit,” the executive explains. “He worked extremely hard on the collection; he even chose to base himself in our showroom. I was genuinely impressed by his abilities, not only stylistically but also in terms of tailoring; he is a fully rounded creative.”

As anticipated, the first capsule collection of the brand’s new chapter, an all-womenswear line entitled “Erotica”, will be presented on June 15 and will be available to purchase from the following day, “exclusively at 35 leading Italian retailers, on Dondup’s e-commerce site, and in our four mono-brand stores in Milan, Rome, Verona and Munich. They will only be able to sell it until July 30, after which it will be withdrawn,” Grange adds. “Each store will receive only one piece of each style in the collection, exclusively in size 40, designed to fit sizes 38 and 42 as well. We wanted this first drop to be highly exclusive; from the second release we will take a more traditional approach, and a menswear line will follow in due course.”

“Through fashion, each of us expresses who we are to the world. Erotica is my personal vision of elegance and femininity, of a woman who is aware of her power; it’s an intellectual eroticism that, in the collection, also references men’s tailoring. This first drop will probably be somewhat disruptive for Dondup, but it’s the direction we want to take,” De Marinis told FashionNetwork.com.

He also oversaw the creative direction of the capsule’s launch campaign, personally choosing the models: “This project allows me to work more as an author and director than as a performer, with complete oversight; an artistic need I felt. It was stimulating to create something for an audience that is not my traditional following.”

Despite an upgrade in quality in terms of fabrics, materials and detailing, for the new collection Dondup has decided to lower its usual price range: “For example, a pair of trousers will retail at between €185 and €330; we wanted the offer to be as democratic as possible,” the CEO explains, adding that, thanks to the new project, the brand aims to raise its positioning in the wholesale channel. “We will certainly reorganise the multibrand network and open some new mono-brand stores next year, both in Italy and abroad.”

The first collection by De Marinis is also expected to have a positive impact on sales. In 2025, Dondup’s sales stood at around €60 million, stable compared with the previous year. With 40 per cent of revenue generated abroad, the brand’s leading international markets are Germany and the Nordic countries, and its turnover is split evenly between womenswear and menswear.