Among the absolute stars of Paris Fashion Week, Miu Miu made its mark with its new autumn-winter 2025 collection. Among the embellished garments and accessories, one of the most interesting workmanships was undoubtedly leather with a wrinkled effect, a technique that adds character and depth to materials. We talked about it with Enzo Bruttomesso of Carlab.
At first sight it might look like craquelé leather, but in reality it is wrinkled leather. In this case, the starting point is a full-grain leather, on which a wax is applied. Next, the material is blackened with anilines or dispersed pigments to achieve a sophisticated two-tone effect. Finally, a casein-based fixative is applied, which makes the leather very hard and leads to its ‘breakage’ during tumbling.
The key to this process is not the rarity of the leather, but the quality of the fibre. The wrinkles must be homogeneous and controlled: if the leather is too large or the fibres too open, the risk of rejection increases, as some areas may be more marked than others.
