When Sandro held its first presentation this time last year, the bleached-denim message was as obvious as the Tour Eiffel in view directly across the Seine. Today, the space was dark and the message even darker. Leave aside the stark staging—enhanced, at least, by slowly spinning architectural lamps—and this was still one brooding brood. Show notes pointed to 1980s Berlin, which seemed plausible yet vague enough to account for the authoritative silhouettes and German electro-pop edge. “Tough cuts” was how Ilan Chétrite, Sandro’s artistic director for menswear, described the looks, agreeing that these guys had moved into a higher dress register with their boxy blazers and widened cropped pants. Whether in leather or micro-check, the latter represented the collection’s foremost update. Beyond that, the takeaway was more a matter of singling out the hero pieces than overhauling the wardrobe. Because Sandro shops tend to dress their windows identically, one can already envision the ubiquity of that black utility coat delineated with white topstitching, ditto the high-gloss leather shell. The cropped jean jacket in matte black suede and the dusty pink cashmere topcoat made strange bedfellows. A raspberry suit with high-waisted pants was just strange.
But a brand with as much presence and accessibility as Sandro (at least here in Paris) has the chance to effect change even more than the expensive ones that occupy the upper directional realm. As such, buttonless blazers over funnel-neck knits, and dress pants instead of skinny denim, could become the homogenous look of the day—which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, maybe just minus the somber part.
