When it comes to fashion and style, it’s impossible to deny that London is full of exciting ideas and cutting-edge designers who always manage to come up with fresh and amazing creations. Yet there is one thing I hate about London and the international fashion press: when somebody comes up with a rather silly idea in London, it suddenly turns into something extremely cool and covetable; do the same thing in another town or another country and you’re obviously crazy. Take Henry Holland and his Beverly Hills, 90210 revival: if a young Italian designer had done it, people would have laughed their hearts out. But it happened in London, so fashion editors are raving and ranting about featuring in next season’s photo shoots horrendous denims.
So when Francesco Scognamiglio opened his catwalk with a model wearing plastic trousers, the most conservative journalists shook their heads disapprovingly, wondering why Scognamiglio waists his talent onto something so extravagantly silly and slightly kitsch. I’m sure that if Gareth Pugh had come up with this idea, you would have had people claiming this was a touch of genius. I wonder if the reaction would have been the same if Scognamiglio had presented his trousers at London Fashion Week. The doubts remain, but let’s have a look also at the rest of the collection.
Scognamiglio was born in 1975 in Pompeii where at 23 he opened his first atelier. Since then his career has been constantly on the rise thanks to his designs often characterised by a strange dichotomy between research, experimentation and avant-garde inspirations on one side and the traditional principles of the Neapolitan tailoring school on the other.
This perennial dichotomy came back in Scognamiglio’s Spring/Summer 09 collection with most of its outfits in white and ivory and some in black or deep turquoise. Perfectly tailored cropped jackets were paired with black plastic see-through trousers; there was an emphasis on sleeves, shoulders and shoulder-pads, often decorated with soft feathers; sculpted ruffles appeared on necklines, skirts and dresses, alternated to cascades of roses.
Soft and light fabrics were juxtaposed to stiffer fabrics used to create more structured volumes and silhouettes, losing in this way their bi-dimensionality and acquiring a new form, creating chiaroscuro effects and a tactile experience exalted by the body’s movement.
Scognamiglio’s ivory silky suits and his signature organza blouses were impeccable, while his coat dresses were maybe a bit too rigid, though in a way these outfits mirrored the personality of the muse the young designer had in mind when he designed this collection, a self-confident and warrior-like though highly sensual and sexy woman.
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