There was plenty of hustle and energy in a room whose walls were framed and screened in a serene Japanese style meant to reflect that of this Loro Piana collection. A dense crowd of buyers, editors and Loro Piana representatives schmoozily parlayed around a series of wooden-armed, tweedy-headed mannequins upon which this season’s proposals were placed.
Without movement to animate it, the collection remained a handsome still life to contemplate. A belted, high necked shirt suit for women in gray-flecked tweed was topped with a wide-brimmed woven hat. A striped-neutrals silk-linen shirt dress with a high unturned collar featured an attractive leather fastening to fix and drape the skirt up and across the body. A four-buttoned collarless jacket in an off-white nubbly silky fabric above a pleated pale skirt and light green polo neck looked snug and chic. The sleeves of a wide-armed, navy, petal-paneled silk overcoat were turned up to reveal the multicolored stitch work inside. A skirt and blouse in orange and blue florals was adjacent to last season’s “flower ceremony” dress.
The menswear featured fewer stylistically Japanese (to foreign eyes) details. There were more collarless jackets, in fabrics including the house’s beautiful cashmere denim blend. A suede field jacket was placed over a cotton safari shirt over a ribbed half-zip in a director’s cut of neutral tonal dressing. There were long collarless cashmere overcoats and boss level double breasted suits. The presentation also sought to emphasize a new bag named the Loom and a newly formulated silk and denim mix. Featured on the company’s Instagram feed a few days earlier but hidden somewhere in the crowd was a cool new German army sneaker variation with a white welt and gum sole.
Spotting Giulia Rossetti dashing outside across Via Sacchi, a dynamo dressed top-to-toe in last season’s Loro Piana, confirmed the impression: all this collection’s exquisite clothes lacked was people to inhabit them and bring them to life.