There was a quiet buzz in the air as models wearing Niccolò Pasqualetti’s quirkily sophisticated collection were lining up in a basement to be photographed. This was moments before they climbed a flight of stairs to show a gathering of industry insiders what the designer’s all about. Pasqualetti is one of 20 contenders in this week’s first round of the LVMH Prize, and people are checking out their work. This season, it shone—and not only because some of it incorporated elements of artistically crunched-up silver leather.
After several years working outside Florence since founding their collection in 2019, the Italian ex-Loewe alum of Central Saint Martins MA has made long strides. In 23 looks, in a mostly neutral palette, we saw quiet luxury being given a authentically personal creative twist. “I want to do something that is really recognizable in terms of fabrics and shapes, and something that is more distorted, or less recognizable straight away,” said the designer.
Pasqualetti started out as a jewelry designer—the necklace made of perfume bottle-stoppers, and the blending of macrame-techniques, involving beads and pearls into fabric spoke of that. They offset a collection punctuated with some beautiful coats—an outstanding camel-cashmere with a curve cut into the cuff and an asymmetrical drape thrown across one shoulder; two long, herringbone short-sleeved ones.
Their talent for texture went into a soft grey striped tweed suit—a curvilinear cardigan jacket and fluted skirt, mixed up with a cutaway ginger fake fur gilet and a pearl macrame apron. These are developments that have been evolving through Pasqualetti’s involvement with artisans around Florence; relationships forged during the hard times of the pandemic. “One of the aims when I started the brand was to work in general with craft people. Sometimes, because they’re hard to reach in places that are quite obscure, and there’s a language difficulty, it’s hard to gain their trust with what you’re doing.” But they’ve overcome that now—mainly because Pasqualetti is Italian, and, one senses, because of their persuasively gentle professionalism.
