The mermaid is the new incarnation of the Blumarine girl, according to creative director Nicola Brognano, who, in his childhood, was obsessed with The Little Mermaid cartoon. “I watched it on repeat so many times that the VHS (that ancient archaeological find) got destroyed,” he said. But what is it about the Little Mermaid that so enthralled Brognano? “She was a redhead like my mother, and I loved the way she was dressed, all those eye-popping colors. I remember a minidress that was exactly a cartoon version of a Versace metal mesh number.”
The glamorous mermaid look evidently stuck, but for spring, Brognano turned it into a darker, gothic representation, “intriguing and sexier, less pop, much dirtier.” The image of the Blumarine girl seems to be submitted to a constant process of mutation into ever-evolving versions of herself. “Less girly, more femme” was the mot d’ordre for spring.
While (too) many collections offer a variety of themes so wide that the message gets diluted to the point of evaporation, Brognano has the confidence to stick to his guns, and here he riffed with conviction on the new mermaid look. No more flimsy, allusive Lolita-esque dresses in sheer silk chiffon, but a slinky, tight-fitting, liquid silhouette. A plethora of sexy numbers in luscious jersey contoured every curve, flaring into extra-long trains trailing on the sandy floor of the show’s set, which was scattered with shells and bathed in aquarium-blue light.
With similar conviction, the Blumarine mermaid was provided with endless variations of denim trousers and cargos, whose hems opened into flares so wide or into undulating ruffles so humongous they almost seemed to crawl behind the models. Midriff-baring was de rigueur; being the ubiquitous trend’s instigator, Brognano just owned it with nonchalance, offering shell-shaped bras in oxidized metal paired with extremely low-slung denim flares or cargo-skirt hybrids. “I don’t even want to go into talking about the Y2K stuff anymore,” he said matter-of-factly.
In the Blumarine seasonal mutation into gothic marine creature, the crystal-studded cross replaced the rose, one of the label’s symbols of voluptuous sensuality, here reduced to a few timid rosettes gathering the draping of figure-hugging minidresses. In Brognano’s ongoing identity shaping, drama takes the place of innocent flirting, and romanticism has darker, erotic undertones. The Blumarine girl is definitely up for more interesting role-plays.
