Saturday was a day of mixed feelings for Trussardi and its fans. While it’s a momentous event when a young family member steps up to the challenge and decides to carry on the torch of the family business, the absence of the brand’s former, and immensely popular, designer Umit Benan became palpable once and for all. It still looked like Trussardi – after all, you can’t mess with genes – but while 33-year-old Gaia Trussardi played it safe, Nicola Trussardi’s third-born still managed to get her own agenda across. It was in the femininity of buoyant materials and slouchy cuts inspired by the femmes fatales of David Lynch cinema that new-era Trussardi differed the most from the house under Benan’s reign. Gone was that handsome woman who’d become synonymous with the Turkish designer’s work for the house, and in came a prettier (but not girlier) lady, who seemed a little more practical.
For all its snakeskin print and sliced-up, translucent floor-length skirts (which could easily have walked down a London catwalk), there was a rather mature air about the collection, which was more Burda than globetrotting businesswoman. A red suit was hot, as was an immaculately tailored red leather shirt, both of which shared a hardness that worked a lot better for the Trussardi dauphine than the ladylike softness, which took up most of her collection. It was a fact echoed in the delectable seediness added to the collection by a two-tone padded vinyl catwalk, which yielded to the models’ heels as they penetrated its spongy surface. With more of those elements, Mrs Trussardi – who looked every bit the fashion princess babe as she took her bow – could be off to a nice sophomore collection.
