Slim Aarons meets Radiohead: Voilà! That describes the Emilio Pucci Pre-Fall collection’s spirit in a nutshell, at least according to what Massimo Giorgetti explained during his presentation. “I was listening a lot to Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes/Arpeggi’ while working on the lineup; it’s one of my favorites from their album In Rainbows. Colors are like weird fish swimming in the ocean’s belly, as if they were a musical arpeggio. It made me think of the original Pucci range of bright shades; for me they’ve become like music for my eyes.”
The metaphor was a fitting reference for the designer’s focus on the eye-popping, Technicolor quality of Pucci style, which in the ’60s conveyed the joie de vivre of the globe-trotting, jet-setting, only-the-lucky-few way of life of the elites vacationing in Cortina and Gstaad, whose polished nonchalance was so well captured by Aarons’s photographs. But Giorgetti is not a nostalgic sort; on the contrary, he’s a resolute believer in the here and now. And he doesn’t shy away from embracing the luxe quotient so ingrained into Pucci’s aesthetic. Yet he’s trying to give it a dynamic, contemporary spin, charting the label’s future by adding an easy, cool, younger attitude to the equation. Not a simple task, yet Pucci’s signature ingredients definitely resonate with his own vision: the energy of an explosive color palette, the creative riot of prints, the streamlined simplicity of cut, and the modern sportif accents.
Young designers working for a historic house have the chance to broaden their own vocabulary, both creatively and technically; it’s a challenge as well as a learning experience. For Giorgetti, it translated into a deeper understanding of femininity and how to make it relevant, keeping it modern yet sensual. This was apparent in the Pre-Fall lineup, where interesting work on draping, anatomical cuts, and asymmetries were at play, enhancing the body and the fluidity of movement. The signature Pucci silk jersey was molded into feminine liquid dresses, their vibrant colors an homage to the limitless palette combinations that populate the Pucci archives. Shades of iris and moss, geranium and rust, plum and rope, and peony and Capri blue were lavishly displayed throughout, holding together sporty shapes, whose luxe factor was highlighted by tactile, luscious textures. Dévoré velvet was cut into a fluid jumpsuit or a roomy caftan; silk twill was padded into a boxy short jacket paired with a matching miniskirt, or it was bonded with crepe cady and lasered into a fitted spencer jacket. Capes abounded, referencing the lightness of the foulards that graced the bouffant coiffures or the aristocratic swan necks of every socialite during the Pucci era. Here they were casually thrown over a jersey tracksuit in bright orange or asymmetrically sewn on a clingy black minidress like floating, colorful wings. Stretch leggings, high-waisted trousers, jogging pants worn with boxy tunics, and a trench in bonded cotton added to the past/present/future conversation, along with new prints where floral patterns were given an optical bent. It all exuded a fast, off-kilter yet quite assertive flair, which would have probably pleased the Marchese Emilio, an eccentric bon vivant whose exuberant yet cultured sense of chic made waves in his time for his very unconventional, cool glamour.
