This season Andrea Pompilio changed things up in his Milan showroom with a static presentation of nine looks worn by models lolling on wooden pallets. Below each look was a consignment label reading “AP Supermarket” alongside a delivery date for either July or September 2018. This was to signal the opening of Pompilio’s new e-commerce platform (at AndreaPompilio.it), which he said will allow him to operate outside the six-month collection cycle and deliver product in drops to be shot by emerging photographers.
This collection veered between the nostalgic and the Pompilio-flavored forward facing. Backward glances included ringer neck striped T-shirts; top-stitched, baggy, cotton-lined wool “denim” in black; washed blue denim with ironed-on creases; loafers with stud-edged soles and contrast-color uppers; a big jacket carried over from last season; and check cotton flannel shirts with contrast-check sleeve hems. Future-facing pieces included hooded jersey tabards, and two great technical parkas (one in check with a high-vis side stripe on the arm, the other in a lurid but compelling blue nylon). A Loden-esque topcoat, slightly oversize, came in an orange check, and an irregularly woven striped jacquard sweater was delivered inverted to make the analogue detail of its stitching a decorative headline.
Pompilio is hard to categorize beyond the quixotic variousness of his sometimes lovely product and a keen eye for top-notch fabrication: Let’s hope his digital supermarket allows customers to find their way into his world.
