N°21 SPRING SUMMER 2020 COLLECTION – MILAN FASHION WEEK

EMANCIPATED EROTIC MOOD

This is N21’s first co-ed women’s and men’s show. The collections come from the will to stretch beyond won ground; from the desire to talk about a natural erotic inclination; and from the need to rethink attitudes so as to indulge a notion of fashion that promotes renewal.

“I wanted to do a co-ed show with the women’s and men’s collections because I care about giving a narrative unity to my idea of fashion. I think Fashion is a unique and global concept and that only a person who wears the clothes expressing it is able to personalize it, namely accord it a gender identity and transfer to it a distinct personality: her or his own. This conviction has always been the springboard for my work method. That’s why the initial inspiration behind this collection is a sense of eroticism that cuts loose from exclusively sexual expressions and becomes a means for speaking through the body. That’s also why I designed the same clothes for women and men, without falling into the no-gender trap, yet having the two genders — female and male — meet in a continual intersection of references re lines, volumes and fabrics. This also affords me the chance to express a disruptive viewpoint: one contrary to the conformism and moralism that in current years have been imposing too many rules on people’s lives and therefore on fashion as well”, says N21 creative director Alessandro Dell’Acqua.

REFERENCES Micro floral print fabrics create androgynous outfits where jackets with wide lapels and ventilated sleeves make a smart match with shorts layered over pants. Print nylon forms parachute dresses. Duchesse serves to define voluminous anoraks with keyhole opening in back. Cady shirts have high collars plus long bow closures at back of neck; both men and women wear these shirts with baggy bermudas. Chiffon plissé skirts are washed, as are leather shirts and gazer jackets, so as to obtain imperfect effects and lighter weights. The masculine weight of knit sweaters is contrasted with allover crystal beading.

ATTITUDE Very elegant, the collection features made to be styled in the wearers own way, making keen use of atelier tricks of the trade: jacket sleeves open up; tops play a morphing game on the torso thanks to clever buttoning; a chiffon dress forgoes sleeves and takes on a slip-dress pose; floppy bows work to construct sheer dresses while flat bows on baby-doll dresses have the look of passementerie; plissé skirts in part leather part chiffon add sensuality to movement; men’s jackets and pants preserve the same cut and fabric in the women’s version; other plissé skirts have wide hems the specific result of washing.

ACCESSORIES Cubic is the name of the sandals with cubic-sculpture heel and split-in-two sole that present the same prints and crystal beads as the clothes in the collection. There are also short pointy-toe medium-heel mannish boots in black, green and brown. A leather envelope bag, often with micro floral print, comes in micro and macro sizes.