From Miranda Priestly to MFW: Meet Women-Led Label Sa Su Phi

Since the debuts of Louise Trotter, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Meryll Rogge at Bottega Veneta, Fendi and Marni respectively over the last year, there’s been a lot of talk of “women designing for women” in Milan. This is the founding principle of Milanese label Sa Su Phi, which staged a sun-drenched sophomore show at Milan’s Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli on Friday afternoon, overlooking Viale Pasubio.

Founders Sara Ferrero and Susanna Cucco, who are both in their 50s, launched Sa Su Phi in 2021, after feeling frustrated with having to choose fashion that was either powerful or comfortable. It’s already a pretty sizable business, with 100 stockists around the world and celebrity fans including Elle Fanning, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep, who was spotted wearing the brand’s Lauren wool coat as Miranda Priestly in the trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 a few weeks ago.

The fall collection, entitled ‘The Architecture of Femininity,’ sought to interrogate the dichotomies of womanhood with construction, fabric and technique. It featured armor-inspired tabards made from super-soft cashmere in pastel yellow, or protruding, protective padding at the hips of full-length cashmere skirts. “Even if the structure is protective, it enhances the fluidity and the beauty of the body,” Ferrero said. “This is very much the language we wanted to speak.”

The feel of cashmere or silk on the skin is the starting point of their collections. But practicality is key too, Ferrero added. All the brand’s jackets feature elastane, for example, so things stay in place when you roll up your sleeves.

Both designers are used to that action. Ferrero began her career as an investment banker in London in the ’90s, later becoming CEO at Furla, Joseph and ultimately Italian luxury label Valextra, before founding Sa Su Phi. Cucco has an art direction agency, Cucco Studio, that has seen her collaborate with brands including Prada, Max Mara and Loro Piana. The duo met in their professional lives, and day to night fashion for working women is key to their vision, Ferrero said. That’s why the show began with a giant curtain being pulled back, to drench the room in sunlight and show these are clothes for the full day.

After glancing at Sa Su Phi’s Instagram or its celebrity placements, you might call it quiet luxury. But this collection featured some more maximalist accents, like liquid-gold and mercury gowns and silk blouses, the latter layered under structured gray skirt suits. There were also striking color and texture combinations, like plum knits over blue silk suits, or silver glitter cashmere with khaki tailored culottes.

“Thinking about the woman that we’re describing, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to fill the room, and actually, to be honest, something like this [gold trouser], I would wear it to go to work,” Ferrero said. “Minimal or not, I don’t really think about it. I think about my friends and what they want to wear and how they want to feel. It’s a question of attitude.”