“Irresistible,” the song Princess Stephanie of Monaco released in 1986, was on Philosophy’s soundtrack. It was number one for 10 weeks in France, which made her bigger than Madonna at the time. There’s a video for the tune on YouTube. In it Stephanie wears a belted royal blue leather jacket with the big, rounded shoulders of the era. Philosophy’s Lorenzo Serafini re-created the silhouette for his Spring collection. Stephanie and her sister, Princess Caroline, made quite an impression on him when he was a young boy in Italy.
Time has a funny way of bringing things around again. The ’80s-era photos of Stephanie and Caroline on Serafini’s mood board today looked surprisingly contemporary—not unlike the pictures of same-period Diana Spencer that appear so often in our Instagram feeds. Though they may not like to admit it, young women often end up fixated on the clothes of their mothers’ generation.
On the runway, Serafini hewed closely to the royal sisters’ ’80s silhouettes. What gave them their modern gloss was a 21st-century insistence on ease. Caroline’s jackets were Chanel tweed; these were bisected by marinière stripes for a more low-key vibe. In a flip of that script, Serafini also showed jean jackets and bustier tops made from tightly woven denim tweed. Of course, there were party dresses. Serafini cut them short, ruffled, and cinched at the waist, in shades of sugar-coated pink, red, or white. The crystal-studded black minidress was made from eco-leather. Another idea that felt very today: the short-in-front, long-in-back going-out top worn with jean shorts.
