By Gemma Deeks, Fashion Editor at Luxury Handbags  |  25 June 2026

People cross-shop these two constantly, and I understand why. Put a La DoubleJ swing dress next to a Zimmermann tiered maxi and you see the same instinct, dress for joy, lead with print. Spend ten minutes with each label and the differences become obvious. One is Milanese maximalism drawn from textile archives. The other is Australian romance built on the beach. Here is how I talk Luxury Handbags clients through the choice.

Where they come from

La DoubleJ was founded in Milan in 2015 by J.J. Martin, an American fashion editor who started by selling curated vintage and then built a full ready-to-wear label around archival Italian prints. The house works with historic Milanese mills to revive old designs, and almost everything is made in Italy. The result reads like a love letter to 1960s and 1970s Italy.

Zimmermann is older and bigger. Sisters Nicky and Simone Zimmermann started it in Sydney in 1991, and the brand grew out of swimwear into one of the most recognised resort names in the world. Its signature is romantic: floral and paisley prints, broderie anglaise, scalloped edges, and a lot of white and pastel. Where La DoubleJ is loud, Zimmermann is dreamy.

The prints

This is the real fork in the road. La DoubleJ prints are graphic and dense, kaleidoscopic stripes, baroque tiles, painterly florals, often placed so the pattern lines up with the seam. Colour is the point, and the house is happy to put orange next to pink next to green. If you like a room to turn when you walk in, this is your label.

Zimmermann prints are gentler. Think watercolour florals, ditsy sprigs, and faded paisley on a light ground, the kind of pattern that photographs soft. A Zimmermann dress tends to whisper. A La DoubleJ dress tends to sing.

Fabric, fit and sizing

La DoubleJ leans on silk twill, viscose jersey, cotton, and a signature techno tulle, cut for a relaxed Italian line. Sizing runs in both lettered (XS to XXL) and Italian numeric (38 to 46) depending on the style, and denim is sold in inch waists. Zimmermann uses a lot of linen, cotton, silk, and broderie, with a fitted bodice and full skirt as its house silhouette, and tends to size 0 to 4. Both sit at the contemporary-to-luxury level. La DoubleJ often comes in a little more accessible than Zimmermann’s heavily embellished eveningwear, though prices overlap across the range.

At a glance

So which one

If your wardrobe is about colour and confidence, go La DoubleJ. The prints are joyful, the cut is forgiving, and the Italian make holds up for years. If you want something softer for a summer wedding, a honeymoon, and the like, Zimmermann is the safer romantic choice. Plenty of Luxury Handbags clients own both, a La DoubleJ piece for the days they want to be seen and a Zimmermann one for the days they want to float.

Shop the edit at Luxury Shoes : the La DoubleJ collection, the Zimmermann collection, and our wider designer dresses and Dress Edit. For a third print-led option from Milan, see Taller Marmo.

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