Francesco Scognamiglio celebrated 20 years in fashion with an haute couture show held in Rome, where he presented his first couture défilé in 2000. “I wanted to say thank you to a city that has meant so much to me,” he said during an appointment at his showroom in Milan. Thanks to an invitation from Silvia Venturini Fendi, AltaRoma’s president, he decided for this season to decamp from Paris, where he usually presents his couture collections, to the Eternal City. “It’s my personal tribute to my Mediterranean roots,” he added. Scognamiglio hails from Pompei and grew up in Naples; you cannot get more Mediterranean than that.
The collection was an ode to the theatrical style that is the designer’s signature; he defined it as “romantic carnality.” It’s a look that appeals to many celebrities: From Beyoncé and Björk to Madonna and Nicki Minaj, they have all succumbed to Scognamiglio’s imaginative flamboyance. He duly celebrated them in the couture show, reediting 13 of his most spectacular designs.
The second half of the show reverted to a similar aesthetic, with embellishments and feathers galore and see-through numbers in abundance. Scognamiglio was inspired by the opulent friezes and stuccos of Baroque Neapolitan churches, translated here in sumptuous Swarovski ornamentation. Referencing the sacred-versus-profane religious theme, a flame red crepe de Chine was embroidered with an evocative motif inspired by a thorny crown, with red crystals mimicking drops of blood. Elsewhere, a long column dress was entirely covered with silver sequins and richly draped as a peplum; it was intended as a nod to a style in vogue in ancient Rome.
