Bellstaff: Pre-fall 2016

Pre-fall already? Golly, that was fast. Belstaff's Spring '16 collection showed barely two months ago. Even for a label whose heritage lies in making rugged outerwear for motorcyclists - that's some serious inter-seasonal acceleration.

The reason, said VP of women's design Delphine Ninous, is that Belstaff is aligning the release of menswear and womenswear collections (show seasons apart), which makes good logistical sense for buyers. And as menswear drops earlier than womenswear, this collection has been brought forward to establish the synchronization.

Creatively, too, there are obvious intra-gender affinities running between Belstaff women's and men's: In this collection, every piece from the all-important outerwear category - biker leathers; upsized MA-1s; cinched-in M-65s; and Belstaff's own Rider, Pathmaster, and Roadmaster jackets, as well as an interesting hybrid of alpine down and Donkey jacket, plus a trucker - was drawn from the masculine canon. Ninous's focus is on recasting these standards for a female consumer. This she does by refining their fabrication, finessing their silhouettes, then finally modifying their motifs and hardware.

The angled breast pocket - originally a pragmatic innovation to provide ergonomic access for bikers on the go - was demoted to a decorative tic on Rider jackets in waterproof, superlight wool. Bikers strafed with the house corrugations came weathered, "tumbled," and light enough to work as under-layers below a statement double-breasted great coat with a detachable coyote pelt collar. High-volume, low-weight knits featured fringing patterned to evoke the bikers' lines. The palette was classically seasonal - all mellow fruitfulness.

Beneath the looks-hard-but-feels-soft arsenal of rebooted Belstaff go-tos and sensitized military gear, Ninous's own tastes - unmediated by the exigencies of brand message - peeked through. There was a forgivingly pretty, asymmetrically hemmed silk dress tracked with pleat and pattern, as well as a fine pair of wide wool pants with a bonded-leather side stripe.

For Belstaff, though, it's what's outside that counts most. Which is why this collection's outerwear was so very finely tuned.

(vogue.com)