A new chapter opens in the story of United Colors of Benetton: designer Andrea Incontri, the new creative director, presents his first fashion show – for SS23 – in the Corso Buenos Aires store in Milan. His chic, practical minimalism espouses the DNA of an Italian brand embodying a design culture that has made fashion history
September 2022: Andrea Incontri, United Colors of Benetton’s new creative director, presents his first runway show during Milan Fashion Week. His SS 2023 will come alive in the Corso Buenos Aires flagship store, where Incontri – architect and designer of a practical, cosmopolitan look – has reinterpreted the location’s layout. The unprecedented event demonstrates his vision of the brand as a global lifestyle project. By staging the show in one of its shops, Benetton underscores the iconic value that stores represents for the company and reconnects, in a contemporary way, with its roots and a design element which – together with of an innovative product – led the Treviso-based brand to revolutionize the canons of fashion and sales.
Massimo Renon, CEO of Benetton Group stated: “I strongly believe in Andrea’s agile signature style for repositioning the brand in the fashion sector, in line with the Benetton DNA: expressive freedom, strong identity, looks interpreted in a contemporary key. It is no coincidence that the collection slogan is Be Everything. Where Be is an invitation to express oneself with total freedom. ”A line of accessories in eco-leather, bijoux, glasses and coordinated objects also makes its debut with this collection. A capsule, “The new Benetton uniform”, composed of unisex eco-leather bags and sneakers, caps and sweaters, has been on sale since September 15 in selected stores around the world.
SOFT SKILLS
The designer has created a discreet, sophisticated collection for the Benetton woman. A spontaneously a-gender fashion because it is the offspring of its times. The leitmotiv of the collection is the fruit theme, in micro and macro proportions, in succulent saturated colors or in delicate ice cream variants. As a designer, Incontri asks himself a cultural question: “What is healthy today? What attracts us? Perfect and pop industrial food? Or something organically natural? Perhaps a mixture of the two?” His food obsession starts from here, and takes the form of a dozen “answers” in the collection. Be Everything, then, but based on the brand’s cornerstones – first and foremost knitwear and color blocks, revisited with an understated elegance. Knitwear is light, canneté, mélange and mouliné to combine with bouclé fabrics, vichy cottons and recycled nylon for fluid shirt dresses, crop tops, shorts, jackets and windbreakers. Stripes, another of the brand’s mainstays, feature in a quiet, relaxed college version. All looks are complemented by accessories: open-toe rubber slippers, enameled bijoux, glasses and eco-friendly belts. Making its debut, the decidedly unisex BE bag in a variety of sizes and colors. Many of the themes in the women’s looks also feature in the men’s collection, casual but “layered”, almost a new grunge with a well-proportioned, everyday soul. Pajama looks have a fluid composure and pair with mouliné legwarmers, heavy cotton work wear ensembles and belted waist safari jackets. Fruits-themed prints, college stripes, “BE” lettering, and two-tone denim are the elements making up a practical, contemporary men’s fashion aesthetic
