Albino Teodoro presented a small Fall collection in his showroom on the last day of Milan Fashion Week. Inspired by the designer’s love of old-school couture masters Balenciaga and Patou, it was centered on elegant occasion dressing with a side order of impeccably tailored daywear.
Albino is an experienced designer with considerable tailoring skills. His coats and pantsuits are cut with chic precision; a refined color sense adds to the sophisticated equation of his style. He favors grown-up but not bourgeois, feminine with a hint of double-entendre— think Bourdin more than Avedon. He has a modern eye for neat construction, but he isn’t clichéd or banal. Women look good in his clothes. One wonders why a designer of such talent doesn’t perform on a larger international stage. But this is just one of the many unsolved mysteries of fashion.
For Fall, the designer focused on uniform-inspired outerwear, referencing the strictness of noble portraiture. Double-breasted coats and peacoats in brushed wool cashmere were cut straight with aplomb, while the sharp tailoring of masculine pantsuits was mitigated by vibrant hues of lagoon green or bougainvillea pink.
The bright color palette presaged a more decorative note in the evening offering. Elaborate, aristocratic heraldry visuals were suggested in the curlicued motifs printed on quilted silk twill blanket capes, on long padded robe coats worn over matching tunics, or else on a chiffon blouse with an asymmetrical side panel worn over slim cigarette pants.
Couture-inspired flourishes were apparent in the asymmetrical drapings on taffeta column dresses or blouses paired with matching slim pants in vivid tones of cobalt blue and fuchsia, as well as in the ruched sleeves of a black evening blazer and the ruffled shoulders of a short black tunic layered over a white skirt.
Elegant tailoring and occasion dressing seem to be back in favor. It could be a good moment for Teodoro to successfully expand his collection, taking it to a more consistent, upgraded level. It’s up to him to solve one of the many mysteries of fashion.
