Fausto Puglisi staged an unorthodox presentation today, creating a wooden prison hung with religious iconography, stocking it with honest-to-goodness convicts, lighting the place with neon crosses, and perfuming it with church incense. The models walked a short runway for photographers, then clambered up and down the stairs of the set. At the top, some poked their heads through the wooden bars, others growled from behind them; one did a karate kick in the direction of the crowd. The project was a collaboration with Armando Punzo, who is the artistic director of Compagnia della Fortezza, a theater company within a prison in Volterra, Italy. According to Puglisi’s invitation, it was designed to showcase his abiding obsession with his roots in Sicily—its Catholicism, the many conquests that have occurred there, the local propensity for ostentatious dress.
For some in the crowd, it was hard to see beyond the bars, both literally (details were easily missed in the darkness) and figuratively (the image of caged women was problematized). In the end, the former was the bigger sticking point, because this was Puglisi’s best collection in a while. Puglisi’s obsessions remain his obsessions, but he has clearly been listening to feedback from customers craving more lightness. The bird- and flower-printed silk cloque of a cap-sleeved dress had a fluid ease, and the heavy embroideries he has favored in the past were scaled back or replaced by prints. The starburst and cross motif of the final series of looks was a nice elaboration of his signature crystal and metalwork. Meanwhile, the palette—seen on color-blocked sheaths and a patchworked suede parka—was more palatable than it has sometimes been. Puglisi is headed in a good direction. The set was a smart instinct, too, even if it did make for frustrating viewing. Something to refine for next season.
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