Personalised twillies: from iconic detail to G7 Italia 2024

Among the contemporary tailoring accessories, few have built an identity as recognisable in such a short time: the twilly is a strip of printed silk, long, thin and light, which is knotted to the bag’s handle, to the hair, to the wrist, to the collar of the shirt. It is a small detail by dimension and big detail by impact, capable of transforming a look without imposing itself and of carrying a visual identity — personal, corporate or institutional — in a discreet but immediate way.

In recent years the twilly has definitively emerged from the niche of women’s luxury to become a transversal and strategic tailoring tool: fashion maisons, corporate brands, institutions and organisers of international events have rediscovered it as the identitarian accessory par excellence. Among the most relevant applications of 2024 figures a commission that gave the twilly a new institutional consecration: the G7 Italia 2024, for which Seterie Mosconi developed textile representational accessories.

Yet the twilly is not a contemporary invention. It has textile roots that reach back over two centuries of history of the silk ribbon, from aristocratic eighteenth-century neckties to the lavallieres of the Parisian literary cafés, up to the rediscovery of the printed ribbon as an autonomous category in the Nineties. It is a story of continuity more than of rupture, and recounting it helps to understand why this accessory has returned to count in the world of high-profile corporate gifting.

In this article we reconstruct the history of the twilly, we analyse its materials and customisation techniques, we recount the G7 Italia 2024 case and we indicate how to use it in contemporary corporate and institutional contexts.

History of the twilly: from the aristocratic ribbon to the contemporary accessory

To understand the twilly, one must start from its essence: it is a strip of printed silk, generally about 85–90 cm in length and 5 cm in width, with hand-machine or piped hemming. It is distinguished from traditional foulards by the relationship between length and width, which gives it a natural drape and a versatility of use impossible for square formats.

The history of the silk ribbon began long before the twilly took its current name. In the eighteenth century, neckties of aristocrats were made up of long bands of silk knotted under the chin: a structured but elegant accessory that anticipated the modern tie. In nineteenth-century Paris, with the romantic movement, the lavalliere appeared — a wider, softer ribbon, knotted in a less formal way, which became the distinctive sign of bohemian intellectuals. Baudelaire, Flaubert and the writers of the cafés along the Seine wore it as a tangible symbol of stylistic rupture.

In the early twentieth century, the silk ribbon stably entered the bourgeois women’s wardrobe, worn as a band on hats, as a small detail knotted on a corset or as a passementerie on collars. Those were the years in which the Como silk district developed many textile techniques that still today characterise Italian production: deep dyes, hand prints in perfect register, precise hems.

The ribbon as an autonomous accessory then transformed itself in the second half of the century, when a great Parisian maison began to produce printed silk ribbons designed to be knotted on the women’s bag. From that moment onwards the twilly became a category of its own, recognisable and recognised, distinct both from the traditional foulard and from the necktie. The revolution was silent: instead of imposing itself as the main object, the twilly offered itself as an additional detail, capable of dialoguing with any accessory without competing with it.

In recent years the twilly has known a second flowering. Fashion maisons have integrated it into their accessory capsules, companies have discovered it as a refined gifting object, institutions have chosen it as a representational accessory for international events. It is a return that brings with it all the grammar of the two preceding centuries, reread in a contemporary key.

The G7 Italia 2024 case: the twilly as accessory of institutional representation

Among the most significant commissions of recent years, the G7 Italia 2024 represents a turning point in the perception of the twilly as an institutional accessory. For an event of this scale, every detail of the image — from the staff uniforms to the objects given to delegations — concurs to construct the visual representation of the host country. The choice to entrust the production of textile accessories to an Italian seteria of the Como district is itself a declaration of positioning.

On the design plane, a twilly for an institutional event of this level must respond to very precise requirements. The fabric must be a high-quality Italian silk, the print must restore exact colours without tolerances, the hemming must be impeccable from close view, the packaging must dialogue with the aesthetics of the event. Every passage in the supply chain is controlled and traced.

But it is above all the symbolic message that the twilly conveys in these contexts to make it strategic. A ribbon of Italian silk, produced in Como, printed with a design dedicated to the event, recounts in a few centimetres the entire Italian textile tradition. It is an object that does not get forgotten in the drawer, because it unites use value and documentary value: who receives it conserves it as a memory of the event and, at the same time, wears it on subsequent occasions.

This commission also dialogues with other recent institutional projects of Seterie Mosconi, which has seen the company also work for the 250th anniversary of the Guardia di Finanza and for other institutional projects. The capacity to translate the textile culture of the Como district into objects of institutional representation is the result of a integrally Italian supply chain: from the threads to the printing, from the hemming to the packaging, every passage takes place in the territory and respects high-quality standards.

Materials, prints, customisation techniques: the technical anatomy of the twilly

From a technical point of view, a twilly of high quality is born from precise choices on three fronts: fabric, printing and finishing. On the fabric side, the most refined choice is light printed silk twill with a grammage between 12 and 16 momme. The twill is the most versatile silk weave, capable of restoring colour, drape and lightness; the right grammage guarantees the fluidity of fall that distinguishes the twilly from a more rigid printed ribbon.

Alternative materials include silk mussola for the most ethereal versions, silk-cotton blends for a more matte finish, and organic silks for clients attentive to environmental sustainability. The choice depends on the destination of the accessory: a twilly designed to be a fashion object knotted on a luxury bag asks for different choices than a twilly produced as gifting for an institutional event.

On the print plane, the technique that gives the best results in twilly format is digital silk printing, which allows for high definition, perfect colour fidelity and small print runs without compromising on quality. The most appreciated graphic motifs include geometric patterns based on the brand logo, allover decorations with seasonal themes (citrus fruits, marines, ribbons, paisleys), specific celebrative graphics for one-off events.

The customisation of the twilly can also include a discreet woven label on the inside corner, with the brand logo or with the date of the event for which the accessory was produced. It is a detail that does not see itself at first glance but that authenticates the object and increases its perceived value.

How to use the twilly in contemporary corporate and institutional contexts

The twilly is conquering a precise positioning in corporate gifting and institutional representational contexts. The reason is simple: it occupies a unique position in the corporate wardrobe. It is more contemporary than the traditional foulard, softer than a tie, more immediate than a pochette. It adapts to executive recipients, institutional partners, VIP clients, and is perceived as a refined and current object, not as a generic gadget.

Among the strategic contexts of use figure the international corporate events, where the twilly given to participating delegations becomes a tangible memory of the moment shared. Strategic anniversaries — corporate anniversaries, important commercial milestones, fundraising galas — are also occasions in which a twilly designed for the event consolidates the bond between the brand and the recipient. Equally relevant is the Christmas season VIP gifting, when the twilly enters the gift envelope as a more refined alternative to the traditional accessory.

In the institutional context, the twilly finds applications particularly significant. Government delegations, important diplomatic visits, official ceremonies of representation are contexts in which giving an Italian silk object is a coherent gesture with the host country’s dignity. The institutional twilly thus joins the staff uniforms, the place cards, the floral compositions and the other elements that construct the visual identity of an event of representation.

How to plan the development of a tailored twilly

Developing a personalised twilly requires anticipated planning and coherent dialogue with the producing seteria. The process generally articulates in five phases: definition of the project (destination, recipients, occasion), choice of fabric, development of the graphic design, sample production, finalisation of the customisation and the packaging.

The first phase is the most strategic. Before talking about fabrics and techniques, it is necessary to clarify what is the symbolic function of the twilly in the project: is it an event memento, a thank-you gift for VIP clients, an institutional accessory of representation, an element of the brand’s accessory capsule? The answer to this question guides all the subsequent choices, from the format to the colour palette, from the print to the packaging.

From the second phase onwards, the work becomes technical. The fabric is chosen, the graphic design is developed in dialogue with the brand book, samples are produced, the chromatic renders are tested. When the client approves, the actual production begins, with the final customisation and the dedicated packaging. May is the right moment to plan it. The development times of a personalised twilly vary based on the complexity of the graphics and the technique chosen, and it is good to move with anticipation: for who is thinking of a summer corporate gifting action or of a capsule for the autumn fairs, the moment to start is now.

Conclusion: the twilly as a synthesis of textile culture and contemporaneity

In a few centimetres of printed silk the twilly recounts more than two centuries of textile history and an entirely contemporary ability to renew itself. From the aristocratic eighteenth-century neckties to the lavallieres of literary Paris, from the Como Nineties to the institutional table of G7 Italia 2024, the silk ribbon has continued to be a tool of identity and refinement, capable of dialoguing with the times without losing the essence.

For a contemporary brand, choosing the twilly as a representational accessory means inscribing oneself in this tradition and at the same time interpreting it in a current key. It is an object that speaks of the brand to the recipient and to whoever sees the recipient wear it, carrying through pure textile a recognisable identity. It is the right object for who wants to communicate refinement without verbosity, for who wants to give a memory rather than a gadget, for who wants to inscribe their own corporate or institutional event in the long history of the Italian textile tradition.