Boglioli is the latest Italian suiter to make moves. Before this season, it had shown its collections, to appreciative if less press-generating audiences, at Pitti Uomo. "Pitti should be for new and emerging brands," said designer Jay Vosoghi, a veteran of Polo Ralph Lauren, whose appointment last year also seems to signal new energy. "For us, Milan presents a better platform."
Milan served as both inspiration and platform this season. Vosoghi was thinking of Milan in the sixties, when it was a hub of industrial design. "The company was born in this period," he said, "and it's my favorite period in design." What that amounted to was that, alongside more traditional suiting—all with Boglioli's soft-shouldered, nearly boneless swing—there was a substantial effort to offer more avant-garde fare. "Milan bohemia," Vosoghi called one section of his tableaux presentation, where tailored jackets in rich teal and vivid plaids were accented with pleated denim and Japanese-textile scarves, a patterned cardigan was shown over a waistcoat, and a garment-dyed parka was inspired by a vintage horseman's jacket.
More comfortable in manse than stables was an evening section that included a three-piece tuxedo in pashmina cashmere. Boglioli does high-end well. But the most interesting areas here were the ones further afield in Milanese bohemia. With a new U.S. showroom just completed, it could be coming soon to a new store near you.
