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As we wander the showroom, Blazy pulls a bag off the shelf. “You see the master craftsmanship,” he says. “It has no seams.” The basket-like weave of this particular bag tapers through a single brass ring into a thick, rope-like handle meant to be slung over the shoulder. Every one must be woven by hand, which means that no two are identical. “That’s luxury,” Blazy says. This bag, Blazy tells me, turning it over, was inspired by the Italian cartoon character of Calimero, a chicken carrying his belongings in a tramp bindle. “It’s the bag that opened the show,” he notes.
That first show, in February, was heralded as a triumph of traditionalism and innovation. The opening look: a young woman in a white tank top, relaxed-fit blue jeans and sensible black heels, striding down the runway with a Kalimero bag slung over her shoulder. Or so it seemed: the trousers, delicately tapered, were actually made of soft leather, printed with layers of ink for the appearance of blue jeans. Was this high-concept irony? Or was it just what it seemed: a timeless, unpretentious street look, full of sexiness and function, with the luxury known only to the wearer?
The whole collection shimmered with a similar duality. On the one hand were the dazzling, daring flights: the exquisite trousers in supple leather, moving like silk; the jackets cut like shirts; the coats in mottled wool made to look like the terrazzo floor in Milan’s Malpensa airport; the baleen-like extensions on a classic skirt. On the other was a collection of irresistible wearability. One coat has dynamic, crescentic sleeves; another jacket, meanwhile, is rendered plainly and simply. (“I’m attracted to the fact that it looks completely undesigned,” Blazy says. “It’s… a very well-made jacket. And that’s enough.”) The garments come alive in profile. In preparing, Blazy studied Italian Futurism, particularly the work of Umberto Boccioni, and ruminated on Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man”. “We wanted to be bourgeois from the front, not overdesigned – but then when you look at the side, bang!” he says. “That’s our territory, the silhouette.”
As he takes me around the showroom, displaying his latest innovations – a shoe inspired by toxic mushrooms; his forays into yellow and deep green – he keeps returning to the bags. One is called the JJ, because, when he set it on the floor and held the strap, it reminded him of walking John John. Another is inspired by a helmet – not worn on the head but dangled from the hand, a sporty power pose. “It’s a mix between sophisticated and very playful,” Blazy says. His apartment in Milan is a monument to a more personal aesthetic. “It’s a funny story,” he says. “When I got the job, I went online to see what was on the market and saw this apartment for rent. I’m like, ‘I’ve been there.’” He rang the number and was told he could come see it there and then. “I stepped in and was like, ‘I was here maybe 15 years ago, when Raf was at Jil Sander.’ It was his place!” He took it at once.
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