The show opened cold, with models walking a finale at the start of the show dressed in cinematic shades of black and white, practical fur-collared tweed coats, and shiny red minidresses that looked as if they were made from foil wrapping paper.
It was a cinematic move, using the ending as the beginning, and set the mood for this high-concept collection of chic, everyday basics. Alessandro Dell’Acqua used Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” as the soundtrack, and channeled Federico Fellini’s 1963 film “8 1/2” about a late-career director trying desperately to make a film, as inspiration.
Dell’Acqua was also thinking about the French artist Sophie Calle, and her knack for probing people’s emotions, and the Elena Ferrante novel “L’Amore Molesto” about a woman’s journey back to Naples for her mother’s funeral.
It was heady stuff, and unmistakably Dell’Acqua, a Neapolitan designer whose collections often nod to the sultry looks of Italian Neorealist film stars.
“I wanted the clothes to be full of nonchalant glamour, elegant — and for adult women,” said the designer, who added drama to the everyday, sending out curvy black dresses with statement white collars, and sharp double-breasted coats in bright red or black, some with a sprinkling of jewels around the neck.
Models walked the runway in suits that ranged from the mannish and oversized to neater ones with ’60s flair. The latter came in tweed or dark gray wool with boxy cropped jackets and peplum skirts.
He paired those shiny, crinkled dresses and pencil skirts — in red, silver and gold — with woolen cardigans, some dangling off the shoulder, or dark, sober jackets, making clear that life is full of complexity and contradiction.
