English meets Italian, Alessandro Dell Acqua said backstage today. The designer has built his No. 21 label on the mash-up, and as promised, his new collection mixed tweeds, plaids, and checks with plenty of embroidery. Call it grungy meets girly. The masculine/feminine thing is practically as old as time, but Dell Acqua is connecting with fashion s young ones. Something about the offhand way he pairs a sequin-encrusted sweatshirt with a button-up and mannish cropped pants (Swarovski-studded socks peeking from beneath their hems) is jibing with them. Same goes for a pink lace pencil skirt over-embroidered with birds accompanied by a boxy space-dye knit sweater.
It s a bit of a trickle-up phenomenon, really. Eclectic outfits like these are already being put together on the streets. Dell Acqua wouldn t be the first designer to find inspiration in Tommy Ton, et al., but after multiple trips down memory lane on the first day of Milan s Fall shows, it was refreshing to watch a designer lift ideas from the here and now. At the least, it s smart business, which counts for something now that Dell Acqua can make a serious go of No. 21 thanks to a licensing agreement with Gilmar.
Not all of Dell Acqua s propositions will have legs: The printed gazars with the wide black silicone bands across the midriff or the hips seemed contrived. Still, they didn t stop a couple of key market editors, who happen to be dyed-in-the-wool shoppers, from raving on their way out. Safe to say we ll be seeing some of Dell Acqua s own ideas—mohair knits tied around the waist, those crystal-covered socks—on the street-style blogs later this month.
