The Weekend When Celebrities and Superyachts Pack St. Bart's
In 1988, Pier Luigi Loro Piana, now the deputy chairman of the luxury brand that bears his surname, came to the island of St. Barthelemy-or St. Bart’s, as it’s more commonly known-for the first time. Ever since, he has had a deep appreciation for the place.
“It’s the best island in the Caribbean, in my opinion,” he said over dinner at the Le Toiny, one of the island’s more upscale offerings. “People say it’s like St. Tropez.” If St. Tropez's waters were warm, that is.
Every March, some of the world's best superyachts convene here for an exclusive boat race known as the Bucket Regatta, and this year Loro Piana's boat My Song was a competitor. He took the opportunity to introduce a new capsule collection that included ready-for-the-Caribbean items, like a bathrobe-like striped linen jumpsuit, sleek sandals, and breezy Moroccan-embroidered dresses.
If the reaction of some of the label's guests (including Hayley Bloomingdale, Karolina Kurkova, Indre Rockefeller, and Annabelle Wallis) were an indicator, the jet set will lap it up, for St. Bart's or St. Tropez.
This was by no means Loro Piana’s first adventure in the Caribbean: From 2011 to 2018, the brand hosted its namesake Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous in nearby Virgin Gorda. But this year-largely due to hurricane damage in Virgin Gorda-they shifted their efforts to St. Bart’s.
“It’s the only opportunity to race this time of year,” he said. “And I love this race.”
For Loro Piana, regattas are all about community and bringing people together, not winning trophies-My Song came in third place at this year's bucket; the overall winner was Hetairos. "I still believe human relationships, one to one, are more important [than digital connections]. They have more value. And this will be more so going forward. You can’t live just in front of your iPad, alone,” he said.
His eyes beaming, he pointed across the table at a sailing friend from Capri and said, by way of example: “Personally, I’ve know this gentleman for 30 years!”
Similar to the lasting relationships Loro Piana has formed with his sailing buddies, his family's company seeks customers who not only put a premium on intricately made, luxury garments, but with whom it shares common values, like loyalty and consistency.
The corollary between the two-basically, the payoff of taking the long view-is not lost on the executive.
“For me,” he said, “it’s an insult when somebody throws from his wardrobe a piece of Loro Piana. There are people who show me the labels. They say, ‘You see this coat? It’s thirty years old!’ I say, ‘So what?’ It’s engineered to last. This is why we don’t consider Loro Piana a fashion company. Fashion cannot last 30 years. Quality does.”
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