N°21 FALL WINTER 2020 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – MILAN FASHION WEEK

OUT OF SCALE

Setting in motion a new, alternative point of view. Unlike the usual. Removing the constraint of rules and abolishing the imperative to meet common standards. Offering clothes utter freedom of expression, for the meaning they inherently hold, while in no way overshadowing the will of the individual wearer. Constructing a quirky silhouette, one beyond any control-center vision, yet using customary, familiar, normal shapes. The N21 collection for fall/winter 2020-21 utilizes the “out of scale” design method to signal a new and freer path for women. More autonomous, more remarkably interesting. Underlining differences and proposing new types of co-existence among elements and items.

Alessandro Dell’Acqua, N21 creative director. «I started from a men’s pinstripe shirt, preserving both cut and shape. On it, I drew the figure of a woman, one who has no use whatsoever for clichés, rules, determinate dimensions; but who, on the contrary, mixes, chooses, subverts the same. With in mind a woman who lives on her own terms, adopts an exquisitely personal viewpoint, I made use of an “out of scale” method making it possible to throw off/confuse references, in order to put together a collection that takes shape through apparently discordant elements. I liked the idea of accentuating and underscoring differences, so as to come up with surprising and often improbable combinations. The lead I dea for m e was a woman who does not let social roles oppress her, force her into stereotypes, and who by mixing proprtions and other aspects succeeds in living/expressing her own attitudes in a better, truer way.»

2010 – 2020. N21 is celebrating its tenth anniversary. With no sense of nostalgia or self-celebration, the history of the brand’s first ten years impacts the collection, one where the creative paths forging it are fully recognizable. The lace dress, macramé work, the masculine/feminine mix, a punk mood. In general, it’s the remix of a creative process free of any nostalgic inclination. The story unfolds through marks of recognizability, all while composing out of scale figures that enable a confusion of references.

The collection. A men’s-size stripe shirt to wear with everything, everywhere, on every occasion: under an ample sheer chiffon shirt complete with wide ostrich feather border hem, for example. And then jackets, melton coats with macramé along bottom, skirts, shirts: all with safety pin applications in flower corolla patterns. Plus coats mimicking giant shirts; chains forming straps on sexy sweetheart-neckline dresses or holding in place drapings on micro-holographic-sequin ones; body-hugging dresses in bouclé; fake fur coats with lining in leather; see-through lace dresses with outsized sleeves; matted loop-stitch knit cardigans with big feather borders; voluminous tops in ostrich and grouse feathers.

Accessories. High-heel pumps and sandals with chain details. Also, a chain defines the big buckle on the new Daft Bag, a medium-size leather shoulder bag capturing all of the collection’s out of scale aspirations.