Is it possible to diametrically change the narrative of a brand in just three months? Walter Chiapponi accepted and won this challenge, as demonstrated by the fashion show Blumarine which marked his debut as creative director of the historic Italian brand. No social-friendly styling, flambé locations and one size casting. The predecessor Nicola Brognano had gradually put aside the stylistic codes of Blumarine in favor of a Gen Z aesthetic devoted to sexyness.
The radical change was anticipated by the images of the first Chiapponi campaign released a few days ago. The shots photograph Brognano’s latest collection but tell everyday, intimate, domestic moments of life. Not that the Chiapponi girls are puritans, they wear slips under the leopard coat, they love animal prints and lace, undisputed leitmotifs of the Blumarine heritage, as well as floral patterns and slip dresses. The codes of the fashion house founded by Anna Molinari in 1977, now owned by the holding company Italian excellences, have been rediscovered, updated and expanded to a wider audience which also includes the male universe. “There are ten looks for men and little by little there will be more and more because I find that you can’t talk about truth when you only focus on a single sex. Man is important, I want to create globality and I want to make this brand very relevant again”, declared the designer backstage.
“I arrived at Blumarine three months ago and I completely immersed myself in the archive for a week, I wanted to smell what has happened in all these years and I wanted to erase what has happened in more recent years. I’m not a person who understands Y2K culture, not even Mrs. Anna would understand it, she is a woman who never touched vulgarity, she was frivolous but with a lot of romance and that’s what she taught me when I worked with her more than 20 Years ago”.
The designer made his debut in the fashion world in the late 90s with Alessandro Dell’Acquahas also collaborated with some of the most relevant brands in the fashion scene such as, in addition to Blumarine, Givenchy, Valentino, Gucci, Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta and, lastly, Tod’s of which he was creative director for four years until last summer.
“I started with an advertising campaign in which I wanted to represent reality and also for this collection I needed a cinematic casting, of people who would move not like robots who walk without meeting the gaze of the public. The autumn/winter 2024 collection represents many different personalities. A very difficult year for me has just ended, which made me understand that feelings and love make you grow stronger and stronger. In this collection I put all my courage and my irony, my frivolity and all my culture. There are many references, to art, fashion, music and cinema which, all together, are building the new Blumarine”.
During the canonical final greeting Chiapponi remembered his friend Davide Rennewho recently passed away a few weeks after being appointed creative director of Moschino. His name was printed on the designer’s shirt as he walked down the catwalk to a sea of applause.
Blumarine autumn/winter 2024