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Jun 12, 2023

No. 21 Resort 2023 Collection

RESORT 2023 By Tiziana Cardini Movies have always inspired Alessandro Dell’Acqua, especially the intense, erotic love stories of the Italian neo-realist films of the ’60s, which depicted a time when

RESORT 2023

By Tiziana Cardini

Movies have always inspired Alessandro Dell’Acqua, especially the intense, erotic love stories of the Italian neo-realist films of the ’60s, which depicted a time when bourgeois rules were subverted by a new social order. Luchino Visconti’s Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (Rocco And His Brothers) was a cinematic milestone of that genre, a dramatic dénouement shot in Milan against a rough, industrial backdrop. What appealed to Dell’Acqua was the erotic feel of displacement of the film’s narration and visuals, which he tried to capture in his resort photos, shot at the top of a brutalist building in Milan’s center.

“My idea of eroticism has nothing to do with the current attitude of overt, in-your-face and rather cliché sexiness going about in fashion today,” he said. “To be alluring, sensuality for me has to be laced with an undertone of cerebral appeal. Eroticism isn’t a linear concept, it isn’t complicated either, rather it is complex, and often mysterious.” For resort, he worked on a collection which played on duality, walking the fine line between linearity and complexity.

Dell’Acqua loves a seductive attitude, which he sees as a provocative mix of twisted-bourgeois allure and disheveled, grungy nonchalance. Revisiting his best-ofs for resort was a way to refresh this cool dynamic, which plays on contrasts and tensions. An oversized masculine black tailored tux was worn over a skintight ribbed knitted pencil skirt, slit high at the front to reveal bare legs; a tight-fitted, hourglass white midi dress had a ’50s flavor, as if it were inspired by the smoky sensuality of French actress Annie Girardot, but it was made in a stretchy yarn of woven net tulle, which gave it a modern, non-constrictive, dynamic spin. On the same note, a sinuous sleeveless number in black sequins had the bodice made of flesh-colored neoprene with a trompe-l’oeil draping effect. Nude, a shade Dell’Acqua favors as it’s allusive of bare skin, also recurred in a three-piece pantsuit in thick elasticated jersey, and in a pencil-skirted longuette dress with a built-in pointy-shaped corset. Like the entire collection, it exuded a sensuous cinematic allure.

Resort 2023

Resort 2023

Resort 2023

Resort 2023

Resort 2023

Resort 2023