Mission Accomplished could be a good name for Blumarine’s spring outing. In just a couple of seasons, Nicola Brognano has flipped and twisted the label’s narrative so spectacularly into a sort of standard bearer for a Y2K renaissance that not much is left of its previous incarnation. Supermodel (such an archaic phrase, isn’t it?) Carla Bruni strutting the ’90s catwalks in Blumarine rose-embroidered skintight slip dresses—racy for that time, but rather demure if compared to today’s bare-it-all standards—seems like a distant, hazy memory.
Hitting the delete button with calm determination, Brognano marches on, wrapped up in his unrequited love for a sexed-up interpretation of everything Y2K. Yet when asked backstage about his inspiration for spring, he looked at me in disbelief. “No one in particular really,” he said. He knows that what matters is inundating social media accounts with the brassy swagger of all the skimpy, hotter-than-hot pants trotting on stilettos on the catwalk today, as well as the risqué fringed and beaded bikinis barely covered by a cropped cardi trimmed in regenerated mink or crocheted in fluoro recycled poly, or the see-through chiffon cargo pants with midriff-baring matching tops in eye-popping Day Glo colors. They’ll be snatched up in no time by all the TikTokers and the Dua Lipas of this world.
Asked how his new Blumarine rendition can fit into the conversation on body positivity which is on every designer’s agenda, Brognano sounded unfazed: “Everyone can look good in Blumarine, you can wear it in so many ways. A woman is free to express who she is; you can be 20 years old and be a conservative bourgeoise, and be 70 and ready to show off your body and be a head-turner. The world is vast and wide and free.”
The co-conspirator in Brognano’s implacable turnaround is über-stylist Lotta Volkova, who was busy backstage before the show shepherding models into a not-too-orderly lineup. Dressed in a whisper of a dress in pale pink stretchy gauze and chaperoned by her gallant, elegantly groomed black poodle Dimitri, Volkova fired off a barrage of her own takes on Blumarine’s new fundamentals: “Military Fairies. Sexy Butterfly girls. Frivolous and fun early Y2K mood when social media wasn’t on the horizon. Denim patchwork queens. Trippy, psychedelic, neon girls. Red carpet denim prints, red carpet bandanas. Low-waisted mermaids.” It’s all about having a clear-cut message, is it not?
