Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XIX

1 7 6 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I TOD’s I t is not an easy task to craft a complete ready-to-wear identity for a brand that has traditionally placed focus on footwear, and make it both stylish and customer friendly, but it is one that designer Alessandra Facchinetti tackled with aplomb. According to TOD’s, what resulted is a collection with “a sporty and luxurious attitude. Beyond the classic in a progression of saddlery style innovations.” The collection speaks for itself, however. This a autumn/winter collection that has a clear aim, a statement of the practical and the feminine with intense red and crisp volumes. It needs to be pretty, but it needs to work hard when it has to. Facchinetti deliberately made the collection something that contrasts with everything we’re seeing in the fashion world today. In a world of the monochrome and the modern, it goes the opposite way. This is a collection that touts words such as experimentation, luxury, sartorial – words that mean very little on their own, but which in the hands of Facchinetti become garments that prove the typical and the bourgeois, well-dressed elegance can be feminine and modern. Facchinetti decided she wanted to present this collection in the grand rooms at the Palazzo Litta, Milan, to illustrate the deliberate contrast between the 18th century and the modernity of her contemporary, cosmopolitan clean lines. She was clearly in a sporty mood – but as with all things TOD’s, it was fused with equal parts luxury. With this collection, Facchinetti revisits TOD’s iconic garments and accessories with a super-deluxe sporty twist, mixing tradition, sartorial excellence and innovation. Behind the clothes there is clear research that results in garments of an impressive, unique beauty: intarsia knits, napa skirts with contrasting jacquard, woven leather mini-dresses and pebble-soled boots with metal studs. The base of the collection was leather, which can be a risk in this industry, but one that Facchinetti did not shy away from. Even when paper thin, leather can be heavy