|
Bally: Bourgeois Merges with Street
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
Milan, Jun 28, 2002/FWD/ --- Bally's gradual reinvention from a sturdy flagship for the
comfortable bourgeois, to a hip fashion label, took its latest step in Milan Thursday,
the final day of the men's season in Italy.
Few things sum up the change better than Bally's footwear, the bread and butter of this
Swiss label.
In an airy showroom behind the fashion industry's main lodgings -- the Principe di
Savoia hotel -- Bally's designer Scott Fellows showed off some fantastic new brogue-style
boots, but made with sportswear soles.
Cool looks included spider-web-pattern sneakers and super linen and leather loafers.
Most significantly, Fellows overhauled the Bally shoe silhouette, flattening and widening
the shape, then skimming down the sides to create a new lean look.
Other great items were the "vachetta" leather boxy leather bags, untreated so as to age
naturally, and "ballistic" nylon weekend bags.
In apparel, Fellows has begun using a sportswear manufacturer to produce the new Bally
jackets, which meant he could design entirely deconstructed jackets that nonetheless held
their shape.
He paired these with low cut, though high-crotched, painters' pants in thick white cotton,
or jokey cotton jacquard pants for a clever new silhouette.
"We used to joke that Bally was always the ultimate bourgeois label.
With this season we've mixed that up with a street attitude," explained Fellows.
|
