Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi are known for their tailoring skills, honed over the years to a signature silhouette, which, although being sharply cut with a masculine flair, always retains a feminine, polished allure. For Pre-Fall, they played around with volumes, turning to the influential designer Anne-Marie Beretta for inspiration. Called “the most Japanese of French designers,” she was known for her strong, roomy shapes, whose exaggerated shoulders, big collars, and asymmetric construction gave her style a sculptured look.
“We wanted to work on shapes instead of on decorations,” said Aquilano, pointing out a series of masculine coats in beautiful fabrics whose silhouettes, even with their voluminous proportions, were neatly, almost fastidiously cut. Embellishments were replaced by touches of sensual fur, as in a double-wool purple overcoat of comfortable proportions, slightly egg-shaped in Beretta’s style, with pockets appliquéd with patches of fluffy fox. The ’80s were referenced in high-waisted belted pants with straight-cut legs, worn with short city coats in checkered wools and paired with white shirts in crisp poplin, reworked in a myriad of different shapes and detailing.
The lineup had a classy restraint, tailor-made, it would seem, for choosy Milanese ladies, known for their exacting style standards. They’d certainly love the chic color palette of black, navy blue, gray, and camel, smoothed by touches of purple and mauve. The streamlined character of the lineup was actually quite deceitful, revealing at close inspection sophisticated cutting techniques and a discreet approach: “We wanted to work on subtraction,” summarized Aquilano. “We’re not one bit afraid of elegant simplicity.”
