For spring, Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini riffed on The Attico’s repertoire of languid vintage glamour inflected with tough chic boyishness. “We’re always on the go,” they offered. “The collection is about urban velocity, about Milan’s fast-paced lifestyle, street-savvy smarts, and a bit of goth.”
Cue slouchy, distressed cargo pants paired with a delicate feathered corset, or a broad-shouldered anorak-parka hybrid tossed with casual hauteur over a 1920s-inspired sequined dress with a decadent, disheveled vibe. There’s always an air of slightly undone gloss about The Attico’s hip look, a dash of sexy disarray, that speaks to women in command of their seductive edge. However, embracing vulnerability is just as captivating—strength and fragility are conflicting forces that Giorgia and Gilda have woven into their collections from the start, drawing from their own experience as women designing for women. It adds authenticity, and their audience can relate; their young company is apparently going rather well.
“We were inspired by the late Isabella Blow,” Gilda and Giorgia shared. “Her classy eccentricity, her exquisite audacity—she was touching.” Blow’s hourglass figure influenced pieces like a taut, slender knee-length bustier dress with sweeping fringed hem made of intricate black ribbons, as well as a body-hugging halter-neck backless minidress in lacquered silver lace in a pale shade of mauve. Revealing and concealing the body is a game The Attico’s designers know rather well, and they’re good at turning dainty lace into sexy pieces. There’s nothing ethereal in their idea of romance, they’re definitely more goth than sentimental.
This season, they experimented with new textures and neat, sharper silhouettes, shifting the focus away from tailoring and towards voluminous outerwear with an 1980s vibe. There were hooded bombers, high-collared anoraks, low-waisted drawstring parkas, humongous ovoid shearlings, and eccentric pieces like a trailing peignoir-coat in knitted wool mimicking mink fur, paired with fluffy slippers that created “as if straight out of bed [look]. We’re often in a rush, we’ve got to pull things together quickly,” they quipped.
Life is about running—hopefully towards a better future. But who knows? Today more than ever, uncertainty is the name of the game, as the world doesn’t seem to be in a good shape at all. So for now, optimism and resilience (and possibly a look that cheers us up) are the best options to move on and push forward, say by throwing a Mongolian lamb jacket over last night’s dazzling sequined dress, and heading out for a morning cappuccino without a second thought, fluffy slippers in tow.