The Tamesis
Not all fashion is luxury, and not all luxury is fashion. These two categories of consumables are often combined, like the two carriages of a train, and sometimes seem worth reiterating.
Loro Piana is on the Milan Fashion Week calendar, so it’s somewhat integrated with the fashion train. However, in reality, it is a luxury brand that produces collections according to the rhythm of fashion seasons, but its core appeal lies in the perception of connoisseurship. Its proprietary textiles include Royal Lightness (superfine wool/silk blend) and Gift Of Kings (superfine merino wool). Likewise, its collections often present a very interesting cross-cultural fusion, with an aristocratic feel that occasionally has a hint of culture, but rarely leaves you with the impression of being too concerned with fashion.
This season’s presentation revolves around the concept of a transcontinental train journey, with influences ranging from Normandy to Persia. In a way, it was a return trip: if the presentation was taking place on a luxury train, this train would be decorated with many scarves, shawls and garments based on the ancient paisley pattern of Persian origin that has been part of the Loro Piana catalog since the 1970s. A shawl women’s style full sleeve blouse and pleated skirt cut from a really lovely red wool/silk jacquard and comes with a matching bag. Shown at the front of the show was a full-skirted, belted tonal paisley jacquard silk dress with a shearling vest, paired with pleated suede boots and a vaguely Central Asian cylindrical felt hat. To the right of that look is a mannequin wearing a loose robe jacket, baggy trousers, more boots, grosgrain ribbon paisley tie-dye slippers, and a wide shawl scarf that serves as a head covering underneath another chimney of a felt hat.
The looks all had a sartorial feel that was more romantic than folkloric: very Julie Christie-like doctor zhivago. This sense of the imagined traveler continued in an ocher-orange custom coat, whose collar was embroidered in wool after a Kashmiri shawl and whose paisley pattern was a swirling dance of deep burgundy, teal, ivory and saffron. The design process for the collection was to touch upon local textile traditions and architecture without lingering for too long and becoming too literal.
Loro Piana Express also draws on plenty of Central European flavours, most notably in its Tyrolean-style country coats for men and women: which tend to look delightful. The cut is loose and comfortable, with an overall nostalgic, roughly medieval feel. The final stop seemed to be Paris and its hinterland, as reflected in the shawl-collared chenille cashmere/wool knitwear, clearly inspired by the traditional insulation of Norman fishermen.
Despite its recent claims of so-called quiet luxury fashion, Loro Piana is not really a fashion brand. This is a prestigious textile company whose clothing philosophy is an inherited – or better yet, inherent – taste that can be applied to many different regions. This series does just that.
