At once sensual, sexual and erotic, Magliano’s spring/summer 2023 colleciton is an off-kilter offering of austere, dystopian garms that invite us into a curious – perhaps imaginary – style-subculture of Mediterranean goths.
Set in a fifty-years-abandoned voltaic Enel Energy cabin, the collection was dark and mysterious, yet drunk on power. While the light creates a penumbral effect on the smooth silhouettes, silk organza combines with cotton speaking of the inescapable themes of the blue-collar world which the designer has revisited since founding his brand in 2016.
Elsewhere, upcycled shirts recall hazy memories of an uncertain past, while Hawaiian shirts pay homage to distant lands, and the lookbook proposes subtly bulbous silhouettes that are simultaneously minimalist and maximalist in their composition – at Magliano beautiful contradictions are aplenty.
As the garments drape and shroud the body, creative director Luca Magliano begs the question: can clothes heal wounds? What he discovered is that despite the conceivability of the concept, the answer is uncertain. From this, the prints on display are inspired by anti-retroviral pharmacological therapies, appearing remedial yet demure.
Juxtaposing fluid and rough aesthetics alongside tormented textiles, deconstructed jackets host recycled scarves which are loosely knotted around them, and there are lace and linen pyjama-suits from beginning to aphotic end – beauty loves a little trouble, darling.
Photography courtesy of Magliano.
