The super-charming member of Bally’s current creative “collective”—who, less free and easily, was not authorized to speak on the record—walked me around this engagingly casual presentation and spun a tale about how the current collections were wearable expressions of the brand’s return from London via Milan. This is why the lovely shape of swallows in flight was incorporated into a menswear tracksuit and the slightly less romantic silhouette of a carrier pigeon was worked into a womenswear piece.
Does Bally’s recent brand story—a narrative shaped by its majority sale by Labelux to a new Chinese owner—really merit immortalization in cloth? It’s dubious. There was a film in which some beautiful models wearing Bally were shown packing up their London apartment for a road trip home. Ho-hum.
The clothes and accessories, though, were cool. Highlights included a check coat with a shearling collar, a shearling-detailed pointy-toed flat, some bowling bags with vintage logos, and a bordeaux shearling shirtdress. Dunlop Volley-style sneakers with an archive blue Bally swoosh were absolutely “yes, please.”
Bally’s people seem very sincere, pleasant, and engaged with their brand. However, to think that the wider world cares so much about the Bally narrative—hardly one of fashion’s most compelling stories—is unrealistic.
