Alberto Caliri’s tenure at Missoni reads like an ongoing narration in which each show resists the urge to contradict the last, opting instead to introduce a handful of well-edited new designs that complement what came before. “This show starts where the previous one left off,” he said. “I’m partial to consistency.”
Intimately familiar with the Missoni archives after years within the brand’s entourage, Caliri has the confidence to spin references into something that feels his own. He handles the house legacy with the kind of relaxed assurance that only comes from long service: less museum curator, more trusted insider who knows exactly which drawers to open.
For fall he resurfaced images from a 1978 Missoni presentation in Milan, where models stood in tableaux wearing loose, pliant knits crafted into elongated masculine cardigans, layered to create fluid silhouettes. “There’s always something masculine in the Missoni mix,” he noted.
That instinct for layering got a proper workout this season, with the masculine streak dialed up into voluminous, stratified silhouettes. Knitted structures, however, gently coaxed toward ease tipped occasionally into the bulky. While the lithe silhouettes of the ’90s still holds fashion in a firm grip, Caliri seems to mind his own business.
Coats, bombers, cardigans, and blazers were piled on with gleeful abandon, scarves and shawls tossed on top for good measure. Wide-leg, pin-tucked trousers in an XL slouch sealed the pumped-up mood. In the same over-the-top vein, the oversized, big-collared blazers that appeared tucked into skintight tube skirts were, in fact, attached—the entire ensemble resolving into a single dress, snug below, billowing above. Imaginative, perhaps; flattering, decidedly less so.
What never fails with Caliri is his exquisite sense of color and the understated, sophisticated play of textures. Even seemingly monochromatic looks, on closer inspection, were composed of varying shades and fabrics of the same hue—a subtlety that, in a collection this gloriously voluminous, spoke volumes indeed.
