Ermenegildo Zegna Couture – Spring 2019

The sun begins to set in Milan. The venue chosen by Ermenegildo Zegna to present its SS19 collection is none other than the Gruppo Mondadori headquarters, a remarkable piece of architecture that looks both monumental and immaterial. The models begin to walk across a narrow catwalk that runs between the pools of the Oscar Niemeyer building. The timing is flawless and helps to create a stunning backdrop where the windows of the Palazzo reflected the orange-hued clouds. The collection titled Weightlessness is a perfect blend of sharpness and functional ease with a pervading sense of lightness. Alessandro Sartori has outdone himself again.

For Ermenegildo Zegna Couture’s SS19 collection, Sartori keeps perfecting his vision of the contemporary wardrobe, fusing the performance of sports with the refinement, attention to detail and precious fabrications of couture tailoring. Like a modern scientist exploring the potential of crossbreeding, he has transformed the atelier into a lab to help create a new species of clothing. One that challenges technique and image even more.

The silhouettes are roomy and airy, the mix of elements bold and personal. Shirts and jackets collide in hybrid forms, with an oversize fit, experimental collars and playful double sleeves. Bombers and anoraks are matched with tailored high-waisted double pleat trousers. Parkas both long and short gain the airiness of a shirt. Degradè checks and souvenir prints add rhythm, while perforation and meshes provide an even airier feel of immateriality. Knitwear is a building block for inventive layering. In keeping with the morphing of categories, sneakers and sandals marry Opanka constructions with the technical details and meshes of sport style, all of it on bold soles.

This juxtaposition of elements is enhanced by a color palette that includes pale blue, pink, bow green, sunflower yellow, mocha, nautical blue and loganberry red in variations of intensity. The union is painterly and individual.

“Creation for me always stems from a technical challenge. I am presenting shapes that are bold and voluminous, yet very light, in layers of meshes, wools, silks.” says Sartori “I found the same challenge in the architecture of this space. It is the perfect place to unleash the Zegna crew of individuals who recognize themselves in the XXX logo, which runs from the clothes to the set-up, unifying the message: a symbol of couture craft that is also the most personal and unexpected expression of Zegna.”

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