“This is cashmere squared,” said Lavinia Biagiotti with a smile.
To be sure, the Laura Biagiotti fall collection was an ode to the material, which isn’t surprising — the designer recalled how her late mother, the namesake founder of the brand, was dubbed the “queen of cashmere.”
“This fabric helps swath women with a warm embrace,” she said, speaking ahead of the show held at the cloister of Milan’s Piccolo Teatro Studio, returning to the venue after 25 years. “This is a fantastic location, filled with vital and cultural energies and reminiscent of women before us, as Leonardo Da Vinci painted here the famous ‘Dama con l’Ermellino [Lady with an Ermine],’ the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani.”
Women, her customers, were top of mind. She said that, as a designer, her duty is to “suggest options to women, never forcing them, just like a theater prompter with actors. A woman should not have to adapt to fashion, it should be the other way around.”
Accordingly, she underscored the importance of staying true to her brand, and that she did. It was a strong and fetching collection, with cashmere elaborated in numerous ways, from the purest white coats to paisley pattern prints or with a watercolor motif from the 1960s on double coats, as well as elaborated as furry outerwear.
Knitwear with a new ribbing was made from multiple yarns: mohair, cashmere, and cashmere and silk. Maxi braids on sweaters unravelled to become knots with a sculpted and three-dimensional effect. Jacquard was developed with Lurex to create a 3D effect.
Coats, skirts and trousers were shown in silky double fabric and palms were embroidered by hand on fluid silk dresses.
The palette extended through several shades, from alabaster to beige, pink, tea and Arctic blue in addition to white, a Biagiotti signature. “It’s like a white page where we can paint something new,” she said.
