Hey, Hypebeast! Hello, Highsnobiety! Ciao, Complex! Guys, why are you not all over Blumarine? Today, Anna Molinari performed a serious pivot, reining in the floaty, floral floor sweepers that are her house’s enduring go-to’s in favor of streetwear.
Almost all the pieces were layered over neon orange or green Blumarine-branded bicycle shorts and sports bras—which later came in a classically Blumarine scattered floral, too. When teamed with the new Blumarine sneakers—pretty okay, actually—the looks sometimes took on an easy, modern casualness that was discombobulating: Just not what you’d expect here. Distressed denim had patches filled with pastel floral silk; a crazy closing bomber jacket hung with strips of PVC, leather, and paillettes; and an opening python-print, metal-and-cotton–blend crop top and trench shorts were all identifiably of the house but tilted at a fresh demographic.
But were there any floor sweepers? Of course there were. These, though, were given a revivifying injection of irony when teamed with the athleisure underpinnings. Whether there was indeed a sense of irony lurking somewhere in the design process behind this collection is debatable; however, it was definitely a collection that invited you to wear it on several levels. Blumarine streetwear is such an incongruous notion that it deserves to achieve niche cult status—I’d definitely cherish that sneaker. And when you acknowledge the absolute first-wave fashion status of Molinari as a pioneering woman trailblazer in a way, way, way more patriarchally controlled period than now—not that now is in any way perfect, of course—well, it would be fitting if the generation this collection was tilted at discovered that story for themselves.
