The Corneliani story starts with outerwear. Alfredo Corneliani was making raincoats in Mantua in the 1930s until the war stopped him; his sons Claudio and Carlalberto founded the company as it now exists in 1958, and the third generation followed. It stayed in Mantua, added Abital of Verona in 1980, and built a New York arm in 1986.

The thing it does that nobody else quite does is cut other houses' labels on the same floor as its own. It has held the Ralph Lauren tailored-clothing licence since 1998, which means a large tranche of Italian-made Polo and Ralph Lauren tailoring from that era is Corneliani work wearing another badge, and frequently shares its block. That is a genuinely useful thing for a resale buyer to know in both directions.

The recent history is harder and we state it plainly. Investcorp took majority control in 2016; the company entered a composition with creditors in June 2020 and was rescued in March 2021 with Italian state money through Invitalia. Headcount fell from around 1,200 to roughly 400 across those years. Inspect 2016–21 output on its own merits rather than on the house's earlier reputation.

How it wears now: mid-weight Super 110s to 150s worsteds — a working suit rather than a collector's one, and better for it. Moderate padded shoulder, medium armhole, drop 6 to 7. The outerwear and the mid-weight suits are what age best.