Keep the wheels, lose the grit. There s a tagline for the re-revved Belstaff. Under Martin Cooper s creative direction, the English label has kept a tight but not heavy-handed grip on its motocross heritage the last couple of seasons. Fashion lives in the specifics, and Cooper has skillfully mined the details of a few key Belstaff pieces—chief among them, the Trialmaster jacket—and spun them into the foundations of wide-ranging collections for both men and women. But while the Belstaff renaissance feels like a natural fit in menswear, it s not as straightforward a challenge on the women s side. Cooper s achievement here has been to feminize the look without sacrificing the style. It s a fine line to walk, and so far, the designer has kept the balance nicely. "I m exploring a softer, more romantic side," he said backstage after today s show. Softer, literally, were pleated silk shirtdresses with the subtle but tough detail of reinforced elbows on the sleeves. Cooper even teased romance out of a jacquard jumpsuit in military green; it took a full turn around the track—that is, runway—before you noticed that a pit-crew roadie would wear one nearly the same. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a house built on a jacket, outerwear was a standout, from striped linen jackets inspired by vintage travel cases to an all-out luxe version of Belstaff s original Speedmaster in cardamom-colored perforated plonge.
Despite the variety Cooper has eked from his source material, his remains a very specific offering at its core. His challenge will be to entice his customers to pay high-luxury prices for moto-finery they don t already know they want. Belstaff is long on heritage but short on decades of desire. But the designer s doing a bang-up job of sparking that lust, and he has the added advantage of crusading new backers behind him. As of today, the label s enormous Madison Avenue flagship is open and beckoning; its Craig McDean-shot ads are appearing far and wide. The new keepers of the Belstaff flame are basking in its glow.
