When she was a child, Delphine Ninous recalls being transfixed by the annual hoopla of the Paris-Dakar rally. This epic off-road race from France to Senegal—relocated to South America since 2009 for security reasons—featured both motorbikes and cars and was one of the most romantic and grueling motorsports competitions in the world. For this season, Ninous looked at the earlier days of the competition to conjure a collection that drove richly arid desert tones through a landscape of ’80s painted moto-wear. There were plenty of pieces that incorporated the graphic brashness of the time—tracksuit stripes ran through the collection—and a mix of sportswear and leather or nylon moto-outerwear.
The house standard Trialmaster was recast in double-layered, top-stitched nylon; a Prince of Wales check was rendered in nylon in a pared down topcoat, and a mac came in lacquered nylon, too. Cotton long-sleeved tees with mesh inserts and leather moto jackets were emblazoned with oversize Belstaff phoenix logos in the spirit of rally branding. Really fine was a bleu de travail combination of work jacket and pants in indigo cotton that could have walked straight out of Le Salaire de la Peur.
To her credit, Ninous did not look solely in the rearview mirror. A future-facing new sub-brand called Origins focused on producing cutting-edge, summer-ready technical pieces—light as anything, bonded, waterproof yet breathable—that incorporated the visual language of Belstaff in pocket detailing and articulated panels at knee and elbow. For both men and women (there was a smattering of Resort here too), it looked good, plus served as a reminder that Belstaff’s own origins are rooted in the manufacture of clothes that do a job—and do it well.
