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
Milan, 25 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 shirtdresses, 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 workwear 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.
BE EVERYTHING, BE BENETTON
