Blumarine was mega in the ’90s and remains big in Italy—it still does pretty fine business here—but internationally, its sun has long hovered lowish on the horizon. The redoubtable Anna Molinari and her team often stick to a good-old-days formula of super-sheer, supposed-to-be ethereal floor-sweepers in garish tones that employ dense, floral embroideries to cover the areas you can’t show on Instagram.
Despite the disappointing knowledge of the fact that reviewing this show made attendance at Lorenzo Serafini’s fabulous Philosophy a logistical impossibility, this was still an appointment to approach with cheerful anticipation. Because, when a Blumarine show is all it can be—immodest but totally in denial about it, dense in queasy color, and sickly rich in floral—viewing it can be like seeing a hygienist for your eyeballs: a bit uncomfortable at the time, but ultimately therapeutic.
Yet the first two-thirds-ish of this show lacked the usual Blumarine impact. A looong monochrome section belted out a series of often lovely dresses, blouses, and pants that mixed polka-dot, lace, and ruffle with balance, aplomb, and even restraint. There were a few tantalising signs of the Blumarine of yore lurking beneath—green foliage and pink-embroidered blooms snaking in diagonal lines across a mid-length white dress and in panels on a white fur jacket—but meanwhile, the pretty handkerchief dresses, a bodice-and-shorts look, and some fine kimono dresses peppered with a far gentler floral kept genteelly on coming.
A gentle slap in the chops finally arrived via a pink organza dress wreathed in eucalypt-shaped leaves and blooms at the hem and bust, worn over a similarly garlanded cardigan. Then, a series of long, lace shantung dresses; a couple of almost desultory sheer-over-bodice looks; and, at the last, a single trademark floor-sweeper of the ilk described at the top finished things up. This wasn’t Blumarine in full, guttural voice—there is a new stylist apparently—and while that made for a pretty strong collection which, in part, you could easily see selling well outside of Italy, it was still a disappointment for those who relish the OTT-ness of this marque’s DNA.
