Alessandro Dell Acqua s No. 21 collection is now three seasons old. It hasn t taken him long to develop a recognizable signature, one that marries the lingerie touches that were integral to his former namesake line with a hefty helping of masculine tailoring. One look typical of his new aesthetic: a peach lace button-down and buttercup yellow lace pants topped by a greige lace trench, the lattermost backed in felt for practicality s sake. Other examples: a gold-dipped sweater worn with trousers cut from metallic jacquard, or a boxy white coat with the hem of a befeathered cocktail frock peeking out from underneath. The mannish silhouette/feminine material formula has landed him in 140 stores worldwide, and with a new showroom in New York, he s set his sights on the U.S.
But now that fashion has moved away from minimalism in favor of wild prints and even bolder colors for Spring, a glut of this less overt kind of sportswear is clogging the sales racks. What will make Dell Acqua s offerings stand out? A starting point could be the cheeky detail. That otherwise unremarkable black and white marled cardigan had a back made from black lace. Similarly, the design on a nude popover top and skirt revealed itself on close inspection to be an embroidery of lips dotted here and there with red rhinestones. A pair of plunge-front dresses, by contrast, were none too subtle. But we ll forgive those, because the long-sleeved hourglass number in which Joan Smalls inched down the catwalk was drop-dead in all the right ways.
