IVO MILAN – Radical Fashion Blog

After a long absence, a grand return. 

XII XII XLIX (12/12/49), birth date of the great Italian designer, marks the riappropriation of the brand after a long controversy.

Today’s collection is completely designed and carried out by Romeo Gigli himself. The designer was a striking discovery in the history of Italian fashion, that in the mid-Eighties was dominated by an androgynous female style, wrapped in the geometrical and sharp Armani‘s suits.

Gigli was able to astonish, by proposing an opposite model. Whereas the female manager was celebrated, in a latent competition with her partner, Gigli made an ancestral, ethereal woman flourish again, dressed in a vaguely Renaissance-style items. A powerful tribute to the woman’s gracefully sensual body and identity. By doing so, he made a revolution that, at least in the world of fashion, was able to sweep the misunderstood struggle of sexes away, that tried to standardize different personalities.

Even if it is not so vast and elaborate as Gigli’s past collections used to be, the Summer collection is nevertheless inspired by the same spirit. Soft jersey, knots, juxtapositions, bare shoulders, and slightly asymmetrical silk works, show colours that range between the warm density of ochre and orange and the metallic concentration of black, grey and blue, and are new examples of Romeo Gigli’s typical woman.

By looking at the different items of clothing of this collection, nostalgic memories are awaken of a period when Italian fashion was in the centre of the international fashion scene.