Monochro-mania
Fashion is ever obsessed with the new. As if staying true to one’s range, treasuring certain kinds of fabric, favoring specific styles and cuts and seeking only to perfect, is outdated, irrelevant and unwarranted.
From the outset, I always thought the opposite. I remain
deeply attached to my timeworn peacoat with a snag on the right sleeve that’s both surprising and compelling. Continuity makes me happy every day. Growing older alongside Nina, the woman I’ve loved for 17 years, fills me with happiness. Still wearing the same style sweater that I’ve offered at Officine Générale for 11 years delights me all the more when I pair it with white jeans, which I’ve been wearing since I was a teenager.
I have always associated consistency of dress with a form of elegance. And I have always admired women and men with a restrained wardrobe, who trace a clear line as they move through the decades, updating their look without really altering it, and staying relevant without deviating from a style,
their style. Is such personal allure a carapace or a uniform? Is it innate or a deliberate choice?
These questions, and a few others, were the starting point for this show. Last September, after an intense day of brainstorming in which we defined the major themes for Fall-Winter 2023-2024, we discussed the concept of chic and elegance, fashion and shows, when suddenly I told my team that I was secretly dreaming of a presentation limited to two colors with a few
contrasting accents. Giovanni loved the idea, saying “Let’s do it, let’s start over!” And thus a show called Monochro-Mania was born.
The two colors for next winter are shades I wear every day. I have never stop using them, reinterpreting them, revisiting them. I have always been fond of them and am certain I will be for a long time. They are two fine examples of the deliberately restrained vocabulary I've have worked with time and again, season after season, since 2012. I love forging ahead with a fashion
story that is close to my heart and my body. It’s a story I’m deeply attached to, and that I am not looking to renew while, at the same time, constantly seeking to reinvent it.