“I’m happy to be back here in Milan to walk the runway,” a smiling Amber Valletta, actress and former supermodel who wore a black gown for a grand evening, told THR Roma backstage as she closed the runway show of Twinset.
The brand, controlled by Carlyle, chose a change of strategy by debuting for the first time on the catwalk at Milan fashion week. “We have never walked the runway during the 35 years of our existence and now we want to show the world that we are ready for this as well,” explained CEO Alessandro Varisco.
At Frigoriferi Milanesi, the former historic industrial complex in downtown Milan that has been converted into a multipurpose space, where the show of the Italian brand was staged, the newest collection emerged with lace dresses worked in wool to be worn with leather boots, matelassé velvet jackets with Peter Pan collars, silk slip dresses in pastel shades, orange and wisteria under leather jackets with boxy volumes and lamé minidresses.
Accessories were in abundance, from feather sandals to classic biker boots and then knitted bags, leather buckets and small amulets of semi-precious stones designed especially for the show by Milne Watson.
“With this fashion show we want to emphasize the culmination of an evolutionary process that began five years ago, with the arrival of Lara Davis as creative director, taking stock of our style alphabet,” added Varisco, adding that Twinset has “102 stores in the world today, but within five years we want to reach 150. Italy is our first market, followed by Russia, France and continental Europe. We are also growing in the Middle East.”
Another look at the Twinset Milan fashion show
Jacopo Raule/Getty Images
The Italian brand, based in the town of Carpi nearby Bologna, reported sales of more than $220 million last July and is known worldwide for being an alternative to the expensive offerings of the big luxury brands, with a keen eye for experimentation, trends and more affordable prices.
The fashion show was opened by Russian supermodel Natasha Poly and ended with Valletta, who has starred in the TV series Blood & Oil and Revenge and the films Hitch and What Lies Beneath. One of the front row guests of the Twinset fashion show was the daughter of John Travolta and Kelly Preston: singer Ella Bleu, 23, smiling in her deconstructed gray suit and black lace top. Not spotted at the show: Sienna Miller, the face of this season’s Twinset campaign, lensed by Daniel Jackson on a rooftop overlooking the London skyline.