SS Daley – by designer Steven Stokey-Daley – celebrated singer Harry Styles' decision to invest in his fledgling home with a euphoric show in Florence on Thursday night.
Presented inside the town hall of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, the collection combined English boarding school style, summer dating and elegiac romanticism at the prominent show at Pitti, the world's largest men's fashion show.
Pitti takes place twice a year, mostly inside a giant medieval fortress called Fortezza da Basso, although highlights are usually one-off and special shows by recently acclaimed designers. Rarely was it more so than tonight, at a brilliant SS Daley show. All of this decorated under giant frescoes by the painter Giorgio Vasari, whose history of important noble artists is the most important written guide to Renaissance art.
In a welcome moment, the house announced this afternoon that Styles had become a minority shareholder in SS Daley. A close collaboration in which Harry Styles will accompany the growth of the eponymous brand founded in 2020.
Vasari would surely have enjoyed this spectacle, which took place inside the soaring Salone dei Cinquecento, where the English designer had installed half a dozen wooden columns filled with pillows.
“So a lot of the references I was looking at were from Oxford University students who had shared accommodation in the past. So I wanted to transform this into an abstract idea of a bedroom, that's what the sculptures were about,” Daley explained, in a dark and confusing backstage.
So, it began with a young scholar in a black dress, white vest, silk scarf, and no pants, as if he had been dragged out of bed to attend a late-night party. The Liverpool-born designer also played with feathered robes and scarves trimmed with his signature red thread. And he wowed in trains over a khaki spy trench coat and giant black silk pants.
The Daley house has moved much of its tailoring to Italy, and it showed with a more polished look. Best of all, she managed to combine soft-shouldered silhouettes with precise cutting. Making everything very, very fresh and fun, helped by the contrasting buttons and the cool young cast.
“When I first arrived in Florence, I left my ideas very open. Still, I was very impressed with the incredible tapestries I saw everywhere, which is why there are all these hand-sewn fabrics that reference incredible tapestries,” the sensitive designer practically whispered after the show.
After showing off a brilliant knit poncho of a gentleman riding out on horseback. Suggesting that a child got out of his bed and threw himself on a blanket. Although it was hard to imagine that many of the pampered editors and buyers in the front row actually knew how to ride horses properly.
Add some fabulous plaid trench coats, striped pajama suits, and a fantastic white shirt with a rainbow trout salmon print.
Combining theater and fashion, it was a great show and a top-notch collection of about 30 looks. None of them are a silly note.
Easily the only appropriate fashion moment at Pitti 105, and a strong contender for most original collection in the European men's runway season that runs through Sunday night, January 21 in Paris.
There's no sign of Harry in Florence, but the singer-songwriter should be very happy with his new business after this tasteful spectacle. The terms were not published.
“Harry and I have a shared vision for the future of SS Daley and we look forward to this new chapter together as we focus on the longevity of the brand and turning the business into a modern house with British heritage,” explained the young designer.
A graduate of the University of Westminster's BA in Fashion Design, Daley's DNA is about reinterpreting the realm of British elitism through the institution of the British public school. In 2022 he won the prestigious LVMH Prize and shortly after received the British Fashion Council Foundation Award for Best Emerging Designer.
Few designers today have a brighter future.
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