BERLUTI SUMMER 2020

faceted man.

Magnifying established signatures, colours intensify. Informed by the stained surfaces of the old marble tables on which the Berluti craftsmen in the Ferrara manifattura hand-dye the archetypical patina shoe, Kris Van Assche fluoresces and acidifies his palette. Enhanced hues elevate classic tones: fluo orange and terracotta, bright yellow and mustard, cobalt blue and navy, and intense violet and royal purple meet in exuberant saturation. The sentiment is echoed in technique: the marble and patina stain motif of silk shirts is first woven into a jacquard fabric, then printed with the marble pattern, and finally overprinted with the multi-coloured stains.

As the new direction of Berluti is heightened, so is tradition.

The patina suit; transmuted from the classic Alessandro shoe – is embossed with the maison’s heritage scritto motif. A largely indecipherable 19th century manuscript sacred to the Berluti archive, its handwritten letters find new life on leather tailoring, evoking the idea of archive pieces that never existed. The scritto reappears in jacquards of suits and shirts, features in the form of shadow writing on pin-striped tailoring , as a print on sportswear, on bags, and throughout the details of linings and zips.

A nail-head surface decoration is introduced in homage to the shoemaking core of Berluti, in the all-over embellishment of a leather suit and a sweatshirt, and on the sole of shoes.