This season, Brioni has attempted to escape to 1950s Cuba and play with a deconstructed Brioni icon – the jacket – to create a new casual elegance for spring/summer 2012.

Brioni has introduced the ‘Piuma’ jacket, the lightest ever created by Brioni’s tailors. Completely unlined, without reinforcements in the chest, shoulder or lapels, Brioni claims the Piuma demonstrates the brand’s sartorial expertise; balancing the deconstructed style of the season with greater ease and casual interpretation.

This lightness has been made possible by using rich, natural fabrics, such as silk-linen blend (180g), a linen and wool blend and a pure, featherweight silk – the thinnest silk in the world (600 filaments) – resulting in a luxurious sheen and fresh hand, Brioni said.

Inspired by the tropical elegance of Cuba in the 1950s, the natual, sunset colours – Cadillac pink, Plaintain yellow and tangerine – are lit with shots of sand, hazelnut and tobacco, and anchored with shades of pearl grey, Caribbean blue and marine fog.

Archival fabric research unearths a bold past use of coloured silk in formal wear – a tradition Brioni first championed in the 1950s. Silk shantung, dupioni and silk-linen blends are supposed to add luster to featherweight dinner jackets.

Ultralightness and bold pops of colours are also featured in the cotton, hand-pleated formal shirts worn with electric dinner jackets. Silk shirts, ties and cotton swimwear use graphic prints inspired by 1950s textiles and Cuban architecture.

Knitwear yarns are also lighter. New sartorial models – hand-sewn cotton and cashmere knitwear in solid resort shades – are intended to merge the details of a Brioni dress shirt with the softness of a spring polo.