This Friday, Francesco Scognamiglio—the man, not the brand—will turn 40, but there was not a scintilla of anxiety about him as he presented this Resort '16 collection today. These were good-time clothes, from the opening looks—a ruffled overall dress and a V-neck minidress in a gold-starred white jacquard—to the last—a hugely skirted pale violet crepe dress printed with orchids and wisteria. Variously romantic, ethereal, tough, or winsome, it was almost all unambiguously feminine—which made a change—with the exception of the impression-collared jackets that were a nod to Scognamiglio's Neapolitan tailoring parentage.
A white-on-white jacquard of a Scognamiglio-drafted mandala of stars, circles, and star beams was rather squandered through being so hard to see, as was an impressively light black pimpled jacquard. Treated drill had the indigo of unwashed denim but a finer feel and was spattered with more stars, this time as golden studs. They reappeared, tiny, on each fringe that jiggled two tiers on a black suede miniskirt below a faux-denim Western shirt jacket. Delicately shredded soft silk-cotton jersey was meant to look, Scognamiglio said, "like it had been scratched by a cat," but it could also have been visited by moths—something that made it effectively moth-proof. Come Friday night, Scognamiglio will be throwing his party in a Naples palazzo. If his friends are as engaging as this collection, it should be a good one.
