This was a poignant presentation—yet not necessarily in the way that Agnona’s producers intended. In the atrium a tree had been installed whose foliage was a mixture of desiccated leaves and dead butterflies. From its lifeless branches hung 16 looks that were two-thirds miniaturized in cashmere voile—11 from the archive and five from the new collection. What they demonstrated was how rich the history of this mill, specializing in rare yarns and founded by Francesco Ilorini Mo in 1953, truly is. Balmain, Dior, Chanel, Cardin, Saint Laurent (when it was all about Yves)—back in the day, Agnona cast all of these canonical designers’ sketches in wool. Agnona made brilliance real.
Today? Well, it’s not awful. Agnona is never going to be a summer house, obviously. Still, there was a gorgeous suede wrap dress that, while completely divorced from the essence of this brand, was a thing of beauty and rightfully spotlighted center stage. Some impressive hand-painted plissé pants were worth an ogle. The brown leopard blouse was less moving, the foliage-print caftans were definitely wearable, but the safari jackets just served as piquant reminders of Saint Laurent. Agnona is owned by Ermenegildo Zegna—a titanic fashion house whose main business is the sartorial outfitting of men. The arrival of Stefano Pilati was heralded as a new dawn for the Agnona-Zegna womenswear dream team. That plan changed when Pilati’s focus shifted to the wonderful Zegna Couture. In the meantime, Agnona has been left out in the cold—a book without an author. It deserves one.
