As the Bologna-founded brand celebrates its 50th anniversary, C.P. Company president Lorenzo Osti takes Wallpaper* back to the beginnings of the boundary-pushing label and its evolving adopters‘I have to tell you about Bologna,’ says Lorenzo Osti, president of C.P. Company, the brand founded by his father Massimo Osti in 1971 .
‘Bologna is the red one – for the colour of the roofs, but also for its political reputation. Our city has never been run by a [politically] right party since the Second World War. Never. We were Communist, and now we have a democratic party. All of the city are proud of that. The social aspect is very relevant here.’
As C.P. Company turns 50, menswear lovers continue to obsess over its iconic pieces, like the Explorer, Goggle and Metropolis jackets, while its fiercely loyal fanbase revels in the almost mythological connection to Milan’scasuals and Madchester ravers. But its bubbling origin story in Bologna is even more exciting and avant-garde. ‘The imprint of the city is very strong. That was the environment where the brand was born.
Early adopters of the brand weren’t from the sportswear world – they were more likely to be political and aesthetic radicals. ‘I remember that there was a kind of specific client that was in love with C.P.,’ says Lorenzo. ‘They were sophisticated, very genuine people; the kind of people who really looked into details, listened to music with a lot of consciousness, had awareness of what they were doing. People who really lived life fully because they were hungry and interested in many things.
Massimo would hold court, giving away garments to his friends to see how they wore them and mixed them up. People couldn’t expect to keep the clothes for long though. ‘Maybe after one month he saw it again [and said], “You have to give it back.” He liked maybe the way someone mixed it up and so he took the idea and then changed the garment.’The 1960s and 1970s were a time when a new generation were breaking away from older codes, striving to define themselves anew.