Kris Van Assche adores flowers. A quick scroll through the Belgian designer’s Instagram and florals are dotted everywhere. Often, his collections at Dior featured tulips, daisies, and wilted roses; softening the sharpest of cuts with a softness garnered from the finest florists Paris has to offer. For his third collection at the helm of Berluti, Van Assche decorated the staircase of Opéra Garnier with a procession of petals splashed in hues so vivid they appeared almost acidic. An identical palette was transferred onto an epic display of fine tailoring married with street-ready wearability.
First look out: a raspberry roll neck, worn under a dusty blue suit; slightly slouched to prevent restriction. Both colours dominated throughout, in various shades. Like the indigo suit worn by Bella Hadid, teamed with a Joker-green scarf. Accessories were a particular strong point, as models carried trunks in various sizes, made in collaboration with British heritage brand Globe Trotter. Those buttery-soft Berluti leathers looked as ravishing as ever, particularly on a bottle green jacket equipped with plenty of nifty pockets. Forget denim-on-denim, leather was used to craft trousers, blazers and shirting – all worn at once, with leather scarfs and safari hats to match. Adut Akech finished things off in a divine fuchsia suit with a matching bag – proving Van Assche’s Berluti brilliance is for him, her and everyone in between. Forget bringing us flowers in the pouring rain, we’d much rather have a bunch of this magic.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
