ANDREA INCONTRI FALL WINTER 2015-16 MEN’S COLLECTION – PITTI IMMAGINE UOMO

A#asia#accessories#archetypes I#international#italy#infinitelypractical#informal

A like Asia, because the Andrea Incontri collection focuses its gaze on this centuries-old crossroads of diverse peoples and cultures. Places, arts and styles rooted in an ancient past yet constantly evolving, with their eye on the future.

A like accessories. The main framework of the collection. Bags and footwear form this season’s nucleus around which the ready-to-wear clothes take shape and come to life.

A like archetypes, because accessories point the way to a return to the origins: here classic models are reinterpreted with an even more contemporary twist.

Bags are multiple, just as their uses are multiple. From shoulder bags to flat, geometric envelopes and backpacks to clutches, these accessories are the essential solution to the requirements of everyday life: versatility, lightness, practicality.

Strictly black natural or grained buffalo skin forms the outer shell of a “surprise” container whose unlined, ultra-light interior conceals little pockets and tiny, extractable bags.

Like the bags, footwear embodies the essence of this collection. Here a meticulous attention to detail, a juxtaposition of different materials, a mixture of styles and variety of shapes – sneakers, derbies, low and regular boots – are parts of a broader, global vision with the accent on quality workmanship and fine Italian manufacturing.

Materials and manufacturing are exclusively Italian, from waxing and brushing horse skin to hand-sewing leather bottom stocks and applying studs to the original pointed loafers that pay homage to the traditional Norwegian shoe.

International, Informal, Infinitelypractical. These adjectives describe the ready-to-wear and the new style permeating the clothes for autumn/winter 2016.

Starting with outerwear. Basic, simple, timeless, easy to wear. And although classic/universal styles inspired the models, the result is ultra contemporary and innovative.

The bomber is made of a double fabric of technical nylon and loden woollen cloth, with an ultra-light eco-down lining, the same used for the denim jackets. The parka can be made entirely of nylon or of total-black nappa. The fulled-wool jacket has leather details, as does the multicolour jacquard carpet jacket evocative of upholstery fabric.

Leather inlays are also seen on the field jacket with eight pockets: pockets everywhere, big ones, small ones and a side one for an iPod.

The shirt recurs throughout the collection: white cotton, printed or tie-and-dye, or a polo version made of technical textile with a knitted-fabric collar. For women, the shirt drops to ankle length, turning into a dress showered with tiny roses that are embroidered or jacquard or printed on a technical base. Roses also appear on the women’s parka and on the light tulle tops.

Materials: traditional textures like knitted cotton, wool worked in various ways, denim and leather are mixed and matched with nylon and technical fibres.

Colours: black dominates a palette that includes cool shades of blue and grey and the warmer, earthy tones of military green, aubergine and russet, plus rather more delicate notes of beige and sand.

Music is an integral part of the show, a veritable show-in-a-show. I’m Not a Blonde, the Milanese duo of multi-instrumentalists and composers Chiara “Oakland” Castello and Camilla Matley, play electro-pop music with varied influences.

Their live performance starts with a destructuring of tracks, featuring a hypnotic repetition of the phrase AI LOVE YOU, to proceed, in the second part, with improvisation and the original versions of Todis and Peter Parker (https://imnotablonde.bandcamp.com/releases).