Boglioli is the latest Italian suiter to make moves. Before this season, it had shown its collections, to appreciative if less press-generating audiences, at Pitti Uomo. "Pitti should be for new and emerging brands," said designer Jay Vosoghi, a veteran of Polo Ralph Lauren, whose appointment last year also seems to signal new energy. "For us, Milan presents a better platform."
Milan served as both inspiration and platform this season. Vosoghi was thinking of Milan in the sixties, when it was a hub of industrial design. "The company was born in this period," he said, "and it s my favorite period in design." What that amounted to was that, alongside more traditional suiting—all with Boglioli s soft-shouldered, nearly boneless swing—there was a substantial effort to offer more avant-garde fare. "Milan bohemia," Vosoghi called one section of his tableaux presentation, where tailored jackets in rich teal and vivid plaids were accented with pleated denim and Japanese-textile scarves, a patterned cardigan was shown over a waistcoat, and a garment-dyed parka was inspired by a vintage horseman s jacket.
More comfortable in manse than stables was an evening section that included a three-piece tuxedo in pashmina cashmere. Boglioli does high-end well. But the most interesting areas here were the ones further afield in Milanese bohemia. With a new U.S. showroom just completed, it could be coming soon to a new store near you.
