Bally presented a 20-frame coed look book for this compact collection, alongside a pleasant short film in which a group of models wore the clothes as they wandered wonderingly through the countryside. The film was titled Daydream, and daydreaming is very nice, but in Bally’s new three-floor store on a prime Via Montenapoleone position, the company’s CEO, Nicolas Girotto, was rightfully more concerned with reality.
After doubtless expensive refurbishment, the store opened last September as a template for a new Bally House concept meant to highlight the house’s Swiss design; sustainable credentials; and beautiful shoes, accessories, and apparel. Like all stores here—all stores nearly everywhere—it has been closed for several months this year. Since reopening, a more recent addition is an exhibition of portraits of some of the Swiss-based Bally artisans who typically produce around 200,000 pairs of shoes a year, many pictured alongside the tools of their specialties. These artisans service a network of 300 Bally stores and 600 further wholesale partners worldwide, and the unsaid implication, of course, is that this business supports livelihoods and expertise.
Girotto said that there is some cause for cautious optimism at Bally: “We have observed a form of recovery. I don’t buy ‘revenge spending.’ This is a pandemic, so you are concerned. But we have observed a recovery in the countries that have managed best in this situation, starting with China. We are trading very well with China, both in retail and e-commerce: E-commerce is booming. Japan, after a period of difficulty, is recovering, and we are close to last year’s levels. Where we are suffering the most, still, is in Europe. And obviously travel is a big part of our business, and the regions relying the most on international travel are suffering—so, Europe. The U.S. in the last few weeks has shown some form of recovery.”
So there are green shoots to nurture through the winter ahead via the promotion of this collection. The work of those artisans was evident in some lovely latticed leather totes, man bags, and boots as well as the finely woven sections in cowboy boots (a new angle for Bally). Menswear played silk pajama suits—actually a great Zoom option—against a lovely oxblood double-breasted leather coat. There was a lot of double-B action on handbag hardware, cut into open-sided bags and at the toe of a nicely robust men’s sandal.
Womenswear kept largely to the sophisticatedly conventional–lady formula, which produced this-season highlights in a long shirt in olive suede and some contrast-texture monochrome knitwear. As well as those cowboy boots, very handsome clogs were footwear evidence of what that Daydream film confirmed: While not quite rustic, Bally is trying to rearticulate itself as an earthy and connected-to-nature citizen in the luxury ecosystem.
