This was runway show number two for Krizia’s young designer Antonio D’Anna. Amid the model jostle of the tiny backstage space, he returned to the word experimentation again and again. D’Anna was talking about fabric, cut, and embellishment, but the Krizia project, in general, qualifies as an experiment. How do you revive a heritage label whose heritage is only remembered within Italy, and even then only by ladies of a certain age? When a brand doesn’t inspire nostalgia, returning to the codes only goes so far. Forget honoring legacies, the questions become: Are these clothes relevant to the times? Do they fulfill women’s needs in such a way that they’ll choose Krizia over a more familiar, buzzier name?
House founder Mariuccia Mandelli’s most famous Krizia-ism was her animal motifs. The problem is, Alessandro Michele has the animal-motif category all sewn up. It’s not easy to compete with Gucci, even if D’Anna’s jaguars and eagles are fierce where Michele’s wild things are quirky. D’Anna worked hard modernizing Mandelli’s signature pleats, adding asymmetries that created loose volumes on short dresses. But beyond those hallmarks, there’s not much history to build on at Krizia. Given that, D’Anna’s efforts will be best spent identifying and refining his unique selling point. It’s early days but his tailoring shows promise. Kimono-style sleeves gave his jackets an appealing sense of ease, as did the offhanded way a few of them were belted. He should keep moving in this direction.
