Nicolò Beretta was the youngest ever designer to scoop FN’s Emerging Designer of the Year award for his Giannico shoe line in 2016. In September, the 23-year-old added another string to his bow when he was appointed creative director for heritage Italian label L’Autre Chose across both footwear and ready-to-wear.
His full fall ’19 collection will launch this year, but today, to celebrate International Women’s Day, he’s making his grand debut — a high summer capsule with window takeovers and pop-ups at La Rinascente department stores in Milan, Rome, Florence and Turin in Italy.
Appropriately for International Women’s Day, inspiration is the radical chic of a contemporary Marie Antoinette; macramé dresses and shirts with drop pearls at the hem are perfect for floating around Versailles. “I was thinking about the farm in the grounds of the Chateau where she played the country girl,” Beretta told FN.
The shoe heroine is the dramatic ruched Madeleine slipper — scarlet patent leather with contrast ivory toecap and architectural plissé upper.
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While the label has always been the fashion insider’s secret shoe weapon, garments have played more of a cameo role, but as of fall, there will be a 50:50 split. Entering the ready-to-wear market, Beretta joins footwear talents such as Paul Andrew at Ferragamo. However, unlike Andrew, who has recently put his own brand on hold to focus on Ferragamo, Beretta has astutely streamlined production by merging the shoe studios for Giannico and L’Autre Chose.
Beretta approached the task in the same manner as his shoes, he said, taking a single piece and paying attention to detail. “It’s also very important to have a clear idea of your woman and how she wants to dress,” he continued, citing muses such as Carla Bruni and Charlotte Casiraghi — not to mention his own female friends and L’Autre Chose’s chic CEO Alice Carli.
“The L’Autre Chose woman is both sophisticated and easygoing but still wants statement pieces with their own personality,” he said. “We want to create a democratic designer label with new classics — made in Italy high quality with accessible price points.”
The Madeleine slipper retails for $300.
