Struggling to remember anything from Mad Max except Tina Turner in a skimpy chainmail get up. But, nonetheless, this was the inspiration behind Tim Coppens AW17 collection. Or, well, the apocalypse in general. Where the world in covered and water and we’re all struck down with pox. And we found ourselves in a fittingly end-of-the-world setting, being that it’s about -3 degrees in Florence and we were at a racecourse somewhere far from the centre of the city. All added to the feel though. Anyway, apocalypse. Imagine that, but, in this dystopia, everyone actually looking quite smart. Because this was Coppens’ brand of sportswear, imbued with the luxe-y nature of Italian tailoring. The impending doom came through in the lucid pops of red, the sort of pieced together nature of it (models had lanyards hanging round there necks, or pockets that sat on the back) and the element of biker that ran through – chunky rubber boots, fitted leather jackets, the dirt bike-inspired sunglasses created in collaboration with eyewear brand MYKITA. And, on some jumpers, nuclear bomb clouds, inspired by the work of Robert Longo. It was a confident collection – one that marked a return to Europe for the Belgium designer who usually shows in New York, here as a guest of Pitti. And you know what they say about the guest star. With that, we’re off to find some sort of warm corner to lie in the foetal position in as that marks the end of a busy Pitti day. Ciao!
