Bally (Q1785)
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Swiss luxury fashion house
- Bally of Switzerland
- Bally Shoe
- Bally Shoe Factory
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Bally |
Swiss luxury fashion house |
|
Statements
2001
womenswear designer
2002
womenswear designer
2005
designer
accessories designer
With the precision of a Swiss watchmaker, as one would expect from the creative director of a brand based in the Alpine country, Simone Bellotti mastered his spring collection with the sharp-edged grace that’s becoming his trademark. It was a compelling showcase that solidified Bally's quietly emerging fashion cred.At a preview, Bellotti’s moodboard featured an eclectic mix of imagery, but one portrait stood out, that of Hugo Ball, the sound-poetry author and founder of the Dada movement in 1916 Zürich. Surrounding Ball’s image were photos of rustic, oddly-shaped cowbells, rusted shoehorns, and Man Ray’s artworkThe Gift—a flat iron with thumbtacks glued along its sole. What captivated Bellotti about Ball’s portrait was the striking costume: a tall cylindrical hat and a metallic cone-shaped cape, with a stiff high collar framing his face. “I like its simple precision,” Bellotti remarked.Bellotti revisited the mountain-like, sloped-shoulder silhouette throughout the collection, integrating it into the necklines of coats and blazers. In some ensembles, this shape was paired with curved lines inspired by cowbells, reinterpreted as rounded miniskirts—some of which were lifted at the front to reveal matching culottes beneath. A standout was a burgundy leather coat featuring a sloped collar and shoulders, with a cinched waist that flared into a poufy pannier skirt.Bellotti said his intent was to focus on experimenting with form. Though crafted from structure-retaining materials, the pieces did not appear rigid; rather, they conveyed an off-kilter fragility, like a sort of impractical Swiss couture, lyrical and somewhat anarchic, reminiscent of a Dadaist performance. Said Bellotti: “Dadaism was about a sense of play, and gentle subversion. What I’m looking for is finding equilibrium between rationality and whimsy.”
21 September 2024
For his sophomore collection as Bally’s creative director, Simone Bellotti continued to draw upon the pastoral symbolism of Swiss folklore and Alpine mysticism—aspects of Swiss culture as fascinating as they are unknown or overlooked. Sirens, magic creatures, and spirits living in lakes, mountain streams, or fountains were actually painted as graffiti on the facades of houses in the Engadin area; in ancient times on New Year’s Eve, men from mountain villages donned costumes crafted from shaggy furs, moss, ivy, and twigs, wearing huge cowbells around their necks and mutating into wild demonic figures. Bellotti said: “It’s about the instinctual and the animalistic versus the sobriety of the rational.”A sensitive yet pragmatic designer, Bellotti played astutely with references; steering clear of literal translations, he combined severity and grace, austere poetry and functional Swiss precision. On a neat double-breasted swing loden coat, the skirt flared into the shape of a treichein bell; a masculine crisp poplin shirt, tucked into high-waisted jeans, was worn under a knitted gilet revealing a furry back, hinting at a wilder, less disciplined side. Like the soft pelt of an untamed creature, a fur insert peeked out from under a strict, asymmetrical knee-length felted wool dress, held on one side by a silver safety pin; on the same note, the high waists of sinuous midiskirts in velvet or dry wool were scalloped and curved, recalling the bifurcated tail of freshwater sirens.Progressing into less instinctual territory, Bellotti offered smart, elegant, quotidian solutions, “garments comfortable and proper that you could wear for office life in a Swiss bank.” Tailoring was precise, with a cool patrician undertone; black leather was made into protective yet supple blousons, car coats, and capes. Introducing a cautious note of disorder, a knee-length pencil skirt as well as a masculine waistcoat in black leather were studded with traditional Appenzeller motifs of hearts, cows, and edelweiss interspersed with punkish metallic grommets, hinting at the photographic work of Swiss queer artist Karlheinz Weinberger, whose late-1950s homoerotic portraits were published in the bookRebel Youth. It was a subtle nod to a discourse rooted in the now that makes Bellotti’s work at Bally all the more pertinent, as well as his flair for a pragmatic, expressive fashion that syncs up with the beat of the times.
24 February 2024
Simone Bellotti is the new design director at Bally, replacing the brief stint of Rhuigi Villaseñor, who left in May. An experienced designer, Bellotti spent 16 years at Gucci under Frida Giannini and Alessandro Michele, and is now tasked with bringing the Swiss brand into new, and possibly solid, territory.For his first collection, he mined the label’s rich archive “that holds incredible treasures of made in Switzerland craftsmanship,” he said backstage before today’s show, held in the portico surrounding the formal gardens of the San Simpliciano cloisters. A flair for precision and rigorous execution are inherent to the Swiss mindset. Yet as the saying goes, still waters run deep. Bellotti was drawn to explore a mysterious, expressive and subversive flip side of the spirit of the country’s culture. He came across the story of Monte Verità, a utopian community of free, creative souls founded in Ascona at the turn of the 20th century. A haven for spiritual regeneration and artistic and mystical practices, it was visited by famous intellectuals and artists—Carl Jung, Herman Hesse, Rudolf Steiner, Paul Klee and many others sojourned in the retreat, basking in the healing atmosphere of the alpine landscape.Bellotti embraced the duality of rationality and expressive creativity as two sides of a style identity as “layered as human nature,” he said, “because I believe that brands have a complex personality, not always unilateral and straightforward, rather similar to that of humans.” The collection he sent out today was a fine, sensible exercise in balancing the contradictions between practicality and imagination, elegant design and subtly humorous details.For both genders, outerwear was the collection’s core, cut with soft precision mostly in high-quality leather. Elongated straight-line or boxy blazers paired with matching shorts, pencil skirts or relaxed trousers were offered alongside A-line dusters and sleeveless zippered bombers and treated with a fresh, youthful approach. Eccentricity and the “out-of-control element,” as Bellotti put out, came by way of taffeta minicrinis, poufy ultra-short ballerina skirts or minuscule tutus made from swirls of rosettes and girandoles, peeking out from masculine trench hcoats in shiny black leather, or paired with a short-sleeved, square-cut office shirt in crisp Swiss poplin.
Adding a note of witty homage to Swiss traditions, a strawberry print gracing both a pretty one-piece bathing suit and a small rectangular handbag recalling a kid’s miniature travel bag was drawn from a picnic tablecloth. ‘Appenzeller’ talismans in the shape of tiny cow bells were rendered into bags’ charms, hanging from the straps of trapeze crossbody bags in bright, cheerful colors.As a first outing, it was quite promising for Bellotti, whose approach to the Swiss label’s legacy felt both considered and gentle, consistent enough to be further explored and moved forward. Bally needs no fancy twists-and-turns or avant-garde fashion positioning, rather a modern, intelligent, focused refresh of its historical codes.
23 September 2023
Can you manifest a movie star? This Bally show started late, thanks clearly to two empty seats that awaited filling between Tim Blanks and house CEO Nicolas Girotto. So I got on with noting that the tailoring at an earlier show had recalled that worn during Adrien Brody’s epic turn at Prada in 2012. As I did, in walked Brody—hardly a regular in these parts—resplendent in top-to-toe green tailoring of a more relaxed specification, with Georgina Chapman on his arm. The lights went down.Rhuigi Villaseñor has through hard work and determination manifested his own brand Rhude, a diffusion line with Zara called Redesigning Human Uniform, and this sweet and increasingly interesting gig at Bally. Entitled Persistence of Time, Villaseñor’s sophomore collection saw him double down on his urge to use his fresh eyes to refresh Bally’s long-faded status as a provider of louche equipment for the pre-digital jet set: pre-Tom Ford Tom Ford.“It’s about slow travel,” said Villaseñor of his 20th century wardrobe shaped by a 21st century mindset. Non-literal references included Tommy Nutter shapes in the suiting, equestrian exclusivity in the boots, mercurial Miles Davis at Montreux in the archive-quilt black leather looks, Yves Saint Laurent in the hooded dresses, and all the foulard competitors in the straight-cut silk pants (for men) and handbags dressed in scarfs. Said Villaseñor: “When I was in my little corner of California readingTown & Country, trying to imagine myself eating truffles, this is what it looked like. It’s really opulent.”Cheetah print horse hair slippers, leather down jackets shivering with velvet bows, a great oversized leather quilted parka with water snake paneling, animal print 2.5-inch heeled Chelsea boots, and a purple shearling hoodie worn above a black beaded crystal-studded skirt were among Villaseñor’s other opulent offerings. The closing dress hung from the model’s right shoulder and a strap passed along her left: from behind the house name was advertised south east across her shoulder blade in proud gold lettering. Villaseñor said that some in his team had advised him to disrupt—aka “fuck up”—his retro urge with shots of modernity (sneakers and so forth) but he had declined. “Because the most fucked up thing is where I walk out after and I’m not a guy who comes from here or this,” he said. “There’s no silver spoon.
”This Bally show was held in the Casa degli Atellani, Leonardo Da Vinci’s home during the six years he was working across the road painting The Last Supper. Apparently it was the last show here before its new owner Bernard Arnault moves in and its current tenants move out. Tonight Rhuigi Villaseñor’s new LA sensibility and Bally’s old luxury heritage combined to deliver a fine bookmark in the building’s history, and an excellent collection to (2.5-inch heel) boot. “I’m having a lot of fun,” said Villaseñor. You can envisage Bally’s customers sharing that experience.
25 February 2023
Rhuigi Villaseñor took his bow for his first Bally show wearing a slick double-breasted pinstripe suit that, he cheerily shared afterwards, he’d picked up at Celine. “I had it altered to fit,” he added. Simultaneously endearing and exciting, Villaseñor is a fashion Dreamer who built his own Americana-energizing house, Rhude, through the outsider prism of his own arrival as an 11-year-old in LA from the Philippines. Now he is looking to repeat the trick, at the invitation of Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto, but this time applied to the fusty codes of Euro-luxe from his hyper-aware LA perspective.As the second big debut today in Milan, Villaseñor was under scrutiny: supportive scrutiny, but scrutiny nonetheless. Future, Laura Harrier, Skepta and Ghali were amongst those in the overcapacity crowd here to witness him step up a division. As Luka Sabbat said backstage afterwards: “Rhuigi started out really small, and built up Rhude from scratch—I’ve known him since we were teenagers. And now he has a whole community of people who are behind him and rooting for him. My messages were blowing up from people who couldn’t be here. And it’s just really cool that he is.”First, some practical caveats: Villaseñor’s two new categories, jewelry and swimwear, got slightly lost in the mix. There was one woman’s shoe—heeled to reflect a Swiss toy-making motif that the designer featured less troublesomely elsewhere—that was clearly challenging to walk in.Then, the mood. After clarifying who he was wearing, Villaseñor described his agenda with this collection as: “being about opulence and sexiness. It’s about what I want to wear when I go out, and what my friends want to wear when they go out, and what I think other people want to wear when they go out.” As a little dig at that tired old “streetwear” debate, his set was illuminated by streetlights.Monocolor tailoring and loafer-led, Monaco-ready, python-accented casual wear dominated for men, whose looks were in the slight minority. They were the backdrop to an ambitious, sleek and finely-styled womenswear offering that was rooted in the classical contemporary codes of luxury, with a few invigorating twists. A fitted black knit dress with a G-string cut out at the lower back was one. Another came via the candy-toned metallic finished double-B moto-jackets.Much of the offering was perhaps a touch too reverential to the literal codes of luxury that we were hoping this collection would enhance through loving interrogation.
At times it felt a blend of late-Ford x early-Giannini Gucci flavored with accents of Ralph Lauren. That’s not to say it wasn’t what Villaseñor was aiming for—opulent and sexy—because it was. And you can see this designer’s personal momentum and the inherent oomph of these pieces making them highly sought-after. Once he sheds some nerves and is a little more settled in behind the big desk at Bally, it would be great to see Villaseñor import more of himself—and his playfulness—into this new, old luxury world. The upcoming curling capsule (yes, really) should provide that wit in spades. For now, this was a debut that delivered much, and promised even more.
24 September 2022
Bally’s showroom on Via Piave used to be a movie theater. When that closed, it was the site of several Tom Ford-era Gucci shows, before undergoing a massive renovation to become a serene, spacious temple to the Swiss leather goods brand. But the cinematic verve will be back to Bally soon; newly appointed creative director Rhuigi Villaseñor will hold his first runway show for the brand in September and if anyone can evoke the space’s halcyon days, it’s him.Until then, Bally is in a transitional phase. Fall 2022 is about the “core house codes” per the brand’s stewards. Stealth luxury is the name of the game at Bally, and this season garments are more understated and even more luxurious. A leather loden jacket is lined in ribbed cashmere, wool twill is dyed to evoke denim, and a gorgeous baby yak sweater in stony blue brings innovation and luxury together. Brushed Biella wool is cut into wafty trousers that feel more like jersey to the touch. (“It’s the hard water,” adds the press rep about Biella’s special recipes for wool production.) In menswear there is a cut shearling shirt that feels almost sinfully luxurious; for women, pony hair patterned thigh-high boots do the job.Presented in the cathedral of cashmere, the clothes read as lovely if not a little austere. That’s where Villaseñor comes in; to bring the heat. Over email earlier this year, CEO Nicolas Girotto told me, “Ready-to-wear has been a growing category for us, accounting for nearly 10% of our sales, with strong potential in our leather outerwear and luxury sportswear.” Let’s see what Rhu has in store this September.
25 February 2022
Bally’s showroom on Via Piave used to be a movie theater. When that closed, it was the site of several Tom Ford-era Gucci shows, before undergoing a massive renovation to become a serene, spacious temple to the Swiss leather goods brand. But the cinematic verve will be back to Bally soon; newly appointed creative director Rhuigi Villaseñor will hold his first runway show for the brand in September and if anyone can evoke the space’s halcyon days, it’s him.Until then, Bally is in a transitional phase. Fall 2022 is about the “core house codes” per the brand’s stewards. Stealth luxury is the name of the game at Bally, and this season garments are more understated and even more luxurious. A leather loden jacket is lined in ribbed cashmere, wool twill is dyed to evoke denim, and a gorgeous baby yak sweater in stony blue brings innovation and luxury together. Brushed Biella wool is cut into wafty trousers that feel more like jersey to the touch. (“It’s the hard water,” adds the press rep about Biella’s special recipes for wool production.) In menswear there is a cut shearling shirt that feels almost sinfully luxurious; for women, pony hair patterned thigh-high boots do the job.Presented in the cathedral of cashmere, the clothes read as lovely if not a little austere. That’s where Villaseñor comes in; to bring the heat. Over email earlier this year, CEO Nicolas Girotto told me, “Ready-to-wear has been a growing category for us, accounting for nearly 10% of our sales, with strong potential in our leather outerwear and luxury sportswear.” Let’s see what Rhu has in store this September.
25 February 2022
Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto recently opened new stores in New York’s Meatpacking District and on London’s Bond Street (which are operating), and another on Sydney’s George Street (which cannot). This is part, he said, of a bet the house is making that Bally customers are keen to reconnect physically with the brand. “Because while digital remains a crucial channel, we all want to have this physical interaction and to be able to discuss the pieces with the salespeople: for me this is fundamental.”This Bally collection contained many highly-refined artisanal pieces, including Scribe shoes and matching bags, small leather goods and a coat in fine strips of blue and black check woven leather, plus a broader-weave women’s handbag with unstitched edges that flipped and flopped like well cooked fettuccine. These items were, as usual, highly accomplished and finely finished.More unexpectedly interesting, however, were pieces more modestly hewn. A series of what Girotto called “artist’s jackets” that also resembled liner jackets, in quilted double-B Bally monogram relief leather, some naturally dyed work coats, a bomber in deadstock sartorial cotton, and some properly hot washed denim jeans and work jackets were all refreshingly rusticated. The B-relief returned in handsome sandals for women from which the upper had been stencilled from a single piece of leather. And a pair of heavily riveted clogs, plus some backless clog-boots similarly finished, were boho shoes of beauty. Girotto added that 40 percent of this collection comprised what the company calls ‘Preferred Materials’—“because nobody can truly say what sustainable is”—an uptick on last season's 20 percent. Steps are being taken at Bally.
24 September 2021
Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto recently opened new stores in New York’s Meatpacking District and on London’s Bond Street (which are operating), and another on Sydney’s George Street (which cannot). This is part, he said, of a bet the house is making that Bally customers are keen to reconnect physically with the brand. “Because while digital remains a crucial channel, we all want to have this physical interaction and to be able to discuss the pieces with the salespeople: for me this is fundamental.”This Bally collection contained many highly-refined artisanal pieces, including Scribe shoes and matching bags, small leather goods and a coat in fine strips of blue and black check woven leather, plus a broader-weave women’s handbag with unstitched edges that flipped and flopped like well cooked fettuccine. These items were, as usual, highly accomplished and finely finished.More unexpectedly interesting, however, were pieces more modestly hewn. A series of what Girotto called “artist’s jackets” that also resembled liner jackets, in quilted double-B Bally monogram relief leather, some naturally dyed work coats, a bomber in deadstock sartorial cotton, and some properly hot washed denim jeans and work jackets were all refreshingly rusticated. The B-relief returned in handsome sandals for women from which the upper had been stencilled from a single piece of leather. And a pair of heavily riveted clogs, plus some backless clog-boots similarly finished, were boho shoes of beauty. Girotto added that 40 percent of this collection comprised what the company calls ‘Preferred Materials’—“because nobody can truly say what sustainable is”—an uptick on last season's 20 percent. Steps are being taken at Bally.
24 September 2021
This 170th-anniversary Bally collection for women and men was well supplied with aspirational, attractive pieces whose aesthetic reflected the Alpine identity of the house. Base-camp points of desire included a sleekly cut leather dress (look 4, womenswear), an artisanship-showcasing coat in leather patchwork (2), and some leather-lined variations of a double-breasted shearling of high beauty (7 and 10, menswear).Robe coats for men and women in alpaca shearling were patterned by jacquard in the house B monogram, while handsome bags including 48-hour grips for men and buckets for women were determinedly but discreetly branded with monotone houseTrainspottingstriping and B lettering. Less labeled but still lovely were bio-wool knit loungewear looks and gender-specifically cut pants in Prince of Wales wool (Bally has delivered wickedly tailored womenswear pants for long enough to claim this as a heritage specialism too).The house’s expertise is shoemaking, and this season saw an extension of its core Scribe dress shoe line for men into some variations designed for women. All were subject to a finishing process that takes an hour of labor by an artisan trained for a minimum of three years.Late-1950s Bally-equipped Peruvian climbing expeditions by Lionel Terray (also instrumental in the history of Moncler) and Raymond Lambert inspired a new approach to the house’s signature climbing boot, with an updated version of the 1940s-vintage Grip sole. A new molded sole lambskin curling model made for a cool winter compromise between insufficient sneaker and overkill snow boot.This was all good, yet probably the most impressive new-season innovation was not in the look book. Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto said over a Zoom call that the house was continuing its campaign to fund currently underemployed sherpas to mount expeditions dedicated to ridding some of the Himalayas’ most-climbed mountains of years of accrued waste. “So far over 47 days they have cleared 2.5 tons of plastic from the four highest peaks,” he added. Even more substantively, Girotto said, “We have decided to completely replace our best-selling main accessories line that was made of PVC—to completely eliminate PVC—and to replace it with a regenerated leather.” Bally’s determination to use actions before rhetoric when surveying sustainability’s high ground is as impressive as this collection was enticing.
27 February 2021
This 170th-anniversary Bally collection for women and men was well supplied with aspirational, attractive pieces whose aesthetic reflected the Alpine identity of the house. Base-camp points of desire included a sleekly cut leather dress (look 4, womenswear), an artisanship-showcasing coat in leather patchwork (2), and some leather-lined variations of a double-breasted shearling of high beauty (7 and 10, menswear).Robe coats for men and women in alpaca shearling were patterned by jacquard in the house B monogram, while handsome bags including 48-hour grips for men and buckets for women were determinedly but discreetly branded with monotone houseTrainspottingstriping and B lettering. Less labeled but still lovely were bio-wool knit loungewear looks and gender-specifically cut pants in Prince of Wales wool (Bally has delivered wickedly tailored womenswear pants for long enough to claim this as a heritage specialism too).The house’s expertise is shoemaking, and this season saw an extension of its core Scribe dress shoe line for men into some variations designed for women. All were subject to a finishing process that takes an hour of labor by an artisan trained for a minimum of three years.Late-1950s Bally-equipped Peruvian climbing expeditions by Lionel Terray (also instrumental in the history of Moncler) and Raymond Lambert inspired a new approach to the house’s signature climbing boot, with an updated version of the 1940s-vintage Grip sole. A new molded sole lambskin curling model made for a cool winter compromise between insufficient sneaker and overkill snow boot.This was all good, yet probably the most impressive new-season innovation was not in the look book. Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto said over a Zoom call that the house was continuing its campaign to fund currently underemployed sherpas to mount expeditions dedicated to ridding some of the Himalayas’ most-climbed mountains of years of accrued waste. “So far over 47 days they have cleared 2.5 tons of plastic from the four highest peaks,” he added. Even more substantively, Girotto said, “We have decided to completely replace our best-selling main accessories line that was made of PVC—to completely eliminate PVC—and to replace it with a regenerated leather.” Bally’s determination to use actions before rhetoric when surveying sustainability’s high ground is as impressive as this collection was enticing.
27 February 2021
Bally presented a 20-frame coed look book for this compact collection, alongside a pleasant short film in which a group of models wore the clothes as they wandered wonderingly through the countryside. The film was titledDaydream, and daydreaming is very nice, but in Bally’s new three-floor store on a prime Via Montenapoleone position, the company’s CEO, Nicolas Girotto, was rightfully more concerned with reality.After doubtless expensive refurbishment, the store opened last September as a template for a new Bally House concept meant to highlight the house’s Swiss design; sustainable credentials; and beautiful shoes, accessories, and apparel. Like all stores here—all stores nearly everywhere—it has been closed for several months this year. Since reopening, a more recent addition is an exhibition of portraits of some of the Swiss-based Bally artisans who typically produce around 200,000 pairs of shoes a year, many pictured alongside the tools of their specialties. These artisans service a network of 300 Bally stores and 600 further wholesale partners worldwide, and the unsaid implication, of course, is that this business supports livelihoods and expertise.Girotto said that there is some cause for cautious optimism at Bally: “We have observed a form of recovery. I don’t buy ‘revenge spending.’ This is a pandemic, so you are concerned. But we have observed a recovery in the countries that have managed best in this situation, starting with China. We are trading very well with China, both in retail and e-commerce: E-commerce is booming. Japan, after a period of difficulty, is recovering, and we are close to last year’s levels. Where we are suffering the most, still, is in Europe. And obviously travel is a big part of our business, and the regions relying the most on international travel are suffering—so, Europe. The U.S. in the last few weeks has shown some form of recovery.”So there are green shoots to nurture through the winter ahead via the promotion of this collection. The work of those artisans was evident in some lovely latticed leather totes, man bags, and boots as well as the finely woven sections in cowboy boots (a new angle for Bally). Menswear played silk pajama suits—actually a great Zoom option—against a lovely oxblood double-breasted leather coat. There was a lot of double-B action on handbag hardware, cut into open-sided bags and at the toe of a nicely robust men’s sandal.
Womenswear kept largely to the sophisticatedly conventional–lady formula, which produced this-season highlights in a long shirt in olive suede and some contrast-texture monochrome knitwear. As well as those cowboy boots, very handsome clogs were footwear evidence of what thatDaydreamfilm confirmed: While not quite rustic, Bally is trying to rearticulate itself as an earthy and connected-to-nature citizen in the luxury ecosystem.
27 September 2020
After seasons of brightly colored fashion pieces, Bally is going back to a clean slate for fall. The move towards streamlined, more minimally-minded fashion is philosophical—at least if press materials are to be believed—with the Swiss label putting an emphasis on purity of form and material over flash. Inside Bally’s Milanese showroom on via Piave this was illustrated with a performance piece: Visuals of rippling water were projected behind models in Bally’s rich fall finery, and behind them modern dancers moved around in greige outfits not by Bally. The set up was cerebral, and maybe to a slightly confusing end. “You stand out in Bally, but you’re connected to the world,” said CEO Nicolas Girotto of the brand’s immersive experience.Regardless of the presentation, Bally’s fall 2020 collection is a clever return to form. In terms of fabrics, the label has some of the best and is using them to exciting ends this season. A beige leather trench with hand-hammered buttons has a wool-cashmere bonded lining. Shearlings are raw and shaggy, while a check woman’s coat is hand-stitched together from hand-cut trapezoids of leather. It’s essentially a kind of couture coat with a less threatening price tag—Girotto estimates it will retail at around 4,900 euros.For men, he emphasized clothing with natural lines and a clean cut. Layered leather jackets in taupe-y tones and rich knitwear are, of course, par for the course in simplicity-minded menswear spheres, but what aesthetes might not have expected were two pairs of straight leg jeans. Even a brand as old as Bally—going strong since 1851!—has to get with the times. They’ve done it without losing a sense of timelessness this season.
23 February 2020
After seasons of brightly colored fashion pieces, Bally is going back to a clean slate for fall. The move toward streamlined, more minimally minded fashion is philosophical—at least if press materials are to be believed—with the Swiss label putting an emphasis on purity of form and material over flash. Inside Bally’s Milanese showroom on Viale Piave, this was illustrated with a performance piece: Visuals of rippling water were projected behind models in Bally’s rich fall finery, and behind them modern dancers moved around in greige outfits not by Bally. The setup was cerebral, and maybe to a slightly confusing end. “You stand out in Bally, but you’re connected to the world,” said CEO Nicolas Girotto of the brand’s immersive experience.Regardless of the presentation, Bally’s fall 2020 collection is a clever return to form. In terms of fabrics, the label has some of the best and is using them to exciting ends this season. A beige leather trench with hand-hammered buttons has a wool-cashmere bonded lining. Shearlings are raw and shaggy, while a check woman’s coat is hand-stitched together from hand-cut trapezoids of leather. It’s essentially a kind of couture coat with a less threatening price tag—Girotto estimates it will retail at around 4,900 euros, about $5,000.For men, he emphasized clothing with natural lines and a clean cut. Layered leather jackets in taupe-y tones and rich knitwear are, of course, par for the course in simplicity-minded menswear spheres, but what aesthetes might not have expected were two pairs of straight-leg jeans. Even a brand as old as Bally—going strong since 1851!—has to get with the times. It has done so without losing a sense of timelessness this season.
22 February 2020
Nicolas Girotto, the new-ish internally promoted CEO at Bally, talks a good talk. At this presentation, held in a stylized imagining of a Swiss House, he mentioned an excellent Bally initiative this year to remove around a ton of rubbish from the upper reaches of Mount Everest. He added that the company is working hard to pivot its operations to ensure they are, from base to peak, environmentally irreproachable, but conceded that it is a work in progress.That there were only 10 looks for each gender presented here was also to infer a leaner, more resource-conscious outlook from this venerable brand. Yet Girotto admitted that, of course, much more was on offer behind the scenes. And when I visited Bally in June the then commercial-facing showroom was packed to the rafters with much, much, more menswear merch than was on display this week.Many of Milan’s most successful fashion executives live just across the Swiss border in Lugano. This is apparently solely for tax reasons, but if Bally’s vision of a typical Swiss house is accurate, perhaps there’s more to it. Models lolled around on sofas, mattresses, or even reclined on banks of mussed grass in an appealingly textured clapboard structure (which reps assured was all to be recycled and reused). For women stand-out garments included a long black dress in irregularly diagonal-pitched panels of silk and lace whose slant reflected the line of the kitten heel worn with it, as well as some typically sharp suiting (Bally is really excellent at this). For men there was a lovely zippered compartment jacket in ombré textured orange leather, an Alpine print double-faced shirt, and some substantial double-faced khaki pants. There were also pieces of leather shirting and trousers which seemed unlikely ever to ascend into the retail arena.
22 September 2019
Nicolas Girotto—the new-ish, internally promoted CEO at Bally—talks a good talk. At this presentation, held in a stylized imagining of a Swiss house, he mentioned an excellent Bally initiative this year to remove around a ton of rubbish from the upper reaches of Mount Everest. He added that the company is working hard to pivot its operations to ensure they are, from base to peak, environmentally irreproachable, but conceded that it is a work in progress.That there were only 10 looks for each gender presented here was also to infer a leaner, more resource-conscious outlook from this venerable brand. Yet Girotto admitted that, of course, much more was on offer behind the scenes. And when I visited Bally in June, the then-commercial-facing showroom was packed to the rafters with much, much more menswear merchandise than was on display this week.Many of Milan’s most successful fashion executives live just across the Swiss border in Lugano. This is apparently solely for tax reasons, but if Bally’s vision of a typical Swiss house is accurate, perhaps there’s more to it. Models lolled around on sofas, mattresses, or even reclined on banks of mussed grass in an appealingly textured clapboard structure (which reps assured was all to be recycled and reused). For women stand-out garments included a long black dress in irregular, diagonally pitched panels of silk and lace, whose slant reflected the line of the kitten heel worn with it, as well as some typically sharp suiting. (Bally is really excellent at this.) For men there was a lovely zippered compartment jacket in ombré-textured orange leather, an Alpine-print double-faced shirt, and some substantial double-faced khaki pants. There were also pieces of leather shirting and trousers, which seemed unlikely ever to ascend into the retail arena.
22 September 2019
Flying from Milan to London and back again, I am often lucky enough to get a sunlit view of the Alps from above. A dazzling white vista of jagged perfection—with Switzerland’s glorious incisors at its heart—these mountains are the ultimate cosmic Hollywood smile.This Bally collection looked back to a 1955 logo of an Alpine peak to take inspiration for the zigzag motif that ran through shoes, clothing, and accessories. It was there on the peppily colored Alpinist-inspired technicalwear for men and women that often came accented with the rustic: edelweiss-embroidered lace, crocheted detailing, Swiss crosses, the Schweizerische Herzstiftung, vintage map prints, and faux-naif pixelated-in-knit illustrations of jolly skiers. It was there in the fringing on some iterations of the house’s new semicircle Harriet bag, designed to be worn cross-body. And it was there right down to the contra-colored fringing details—sometimes complemented with a bonus fringe of long-haired cowhide—on the Vibram-soled, archive-inspired climbing boots.Apparently, Bally’s ratio of womenswear revenue to men’s has tilted from 1:4 to 2:3 in the past four years, and there was ammunition here to push that balance further toward parity in the vintage Everest motif sweaters, the cowled colored shearlings, and the mountain flower jacquard piuminos. And yet there was an avalanche of awesome in the menswear, too: A track-cut pair of olive green pants in outrageously thin leather and various primary-colored ski jackets in the same material had especially covetable momentum.Some of the retro logos and quirky colorways on show did whisper of a passing diversion to Patagonia. On the whole, however, Bally’s hard lean into its national codes seems to have set it on a sweet Swiss roll.
23 February 2019
Flying from Milan to London and back again, I am often lucky enough to get a sunlit view of the Alps from above. A dazzling white vista of jagged perfection—with Switzerland’s glorious incisors at its heart—these mountains are the ultimate cosmic Hollywood smile.This Bally collection looked back to a 1955 logo of an Alpine peak to take inspiration for the zigzag motif that ran through shoes, clothing, and accessories. It was there on the peppily colored Alpinist-inspired technicalwear for men and women that often came accented with the rustic: edelweiss-embroidered lace, crocheted detailing, Swiss crosses, the Schweizerische Herzstiftung, vintage map prints, and faux-naif pixelated-in-knit illustrations of jolly skiers. It was there in the fringing on some iterations of the house’s new semicircle Harriet bag, designed to be worn cross-body. And it was there right down to the contra-colored fringing details—sometimes complemented with a bonus fringe of long-haired cowhide—on the Vibram-soled, archive-inspired climbing boots.Apparently, Bally’s ratio of womenswear revenue to men’s has tilted from 1:4 to 2:3 in the past four years, and there was ammunition here to push that balance further toward parity in the vintage Everest motif sweaters, the cowled colored shearlings, and the mountain flower jacquard piuminos. And yet there was an avalanche of awesome in the menswear, too: A track-cut pair of olive green pants in outrageously thin leather and various primary-colored ski jackets in the same material had especially covetable momentum.Some of the retro logos and quirky colorways on show did whisper of a passing diversion to Patagonia. On the whole, however, Bally’s hard lean into its national codes seems to have set it on a sweet Swiss roll.
23 February 2019
The Bally showroom, where we used to watch Frida Giannini’s Gucci, was piled high today with old stereos and cameras laminated in matte peach-color plastic. Around them were clothing rails mostly filled with peach workwear jackets and oxford shirts. This was meant as a nod to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California, where the Bally collective—as the design team self-styles itself—traveled for what sounds like a pretty sweet deal of a research trip this season. The peachiness was to reference a Californian sunset.Among all that peachiness was scattered the new season’s Bally merch, like treasures waiting to be snapped up amongst the bric-a-brac. Shoes included a tennis sneaker reissued from the 1990s; a chisel-toe zippered women’s boot with a scored gold leather heel; the Grip (a new woven leather and elastic-upper sneaker); and toweling-upper logo slides.Bags included the Cecyle (christened after Carl Franz Bally’s wife), a semicircular design with resin fastenings—also featured on fabric-upper sandals. The Janelle was a diamond-quilted rectangular boxlet of a bag with a square clasp and a rotating lock detail. There was also a suite of bags and shoes in an irregular stripe drawn from the Bally archive.Womenswear included a shearling teddy coat; some red laminated cotton shorts and a same-fabric hoodie with a vintage catalog price list–page emblem on its chest; a paper-thin glossed-leather hooded trench in a zingy green and a red (also available, adapted, for men); a thick terry minidress; viscose fine-gauge knits in upholstery brown; and a supercute green striped terry polo and shorts. Men’s included densely knit polos; a bold cow-caramel horsehair tracksuit with Bally-logo-edelweiss-flower piping (Alpine streetwear); a low-armed green knit vest; and a new line of eyewear manufactured by Marcolin.
22 September 2018
The Bally showroom, where we used to watch Frida Giannini’s Gucci, was piled high today with old stereos and cameras laminated in matte peach-color plastic. Around them were clothing rails mostly filled with peach workwear jackets and oxford shirts. This was meant as a nod to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California, where the Bally collective—as the design team self-styles itself—traveled for what sounds like a pretty sweet deal of a research trip this season. The peachiness was to reference a Californian sunset.Among all that peachiness was scattered the new season’s Bally merch, like treasures waiting to be snapped up amongst the bric-a-brac. Shoes included a tennis sneaker reissued from the 1990s; a chisel-toe zippered women’s boot with a scored gold leather heel; the Grip (a new woven leather and elastic-upper sneaker); and toweling-upper logo slides.Bags included the Cecyle (christened after Carl Franz Bally’s wife), a semicircular design with resin fastenings—also featured on fabric-upper sandals. The Janelle was a diamond-quilted rectangular boxlet of a bag with a square clasp and a rotating lock detail. There was also a suite of bags and shoes in an irregular stripe drawn from the Bally archive.Womenswear included a shearling teddy coat; some red laminated cotton shorts and a same-fabric hoodie with a vintage catalog price list–page emblem on its chest; a paper-thin glossed-leather hooded trench in a zingy green and a red (also available, adapted, for men); a thick terry minidress; viscose fine-gauge knits in upholstery brown; and a supercute green striped terry polo and shorts. Men’s included densely knit polos; a bold cow-caramel horsehair tracksuit with Bally-logo-edelweiss-flower piping (Alpine streetwear); a low-armed green knit vest; and a new line of eyewear manufactured by Marcolin.
22 September 2018
The super-charming member of Bally’s current creative “collective”—who, less free and easily, was not authorized to speak on the record—walked me around this engagingly casual presentation and spun a tale about how the current collections were wearable expressions of the brand’s return from London via Milan. This is why the lovely shape of swallows in flight was incorporated into a menswear tracksuit and the slightly less romantic silhouette of a carrier pigeon was worked into a womenswear piece.Does Bally’s recent brand story—a narrative shaped by its majority sale by Labelux to a new Chinese owner—really merit immortalization in cloth? It’s dubious. There was a film in which some beautiful models wearing Bally were shown packing up their London apartment for a road trip home. Ho-hum.The clothes and accessories, though, were cool. Highlights included a check coat with a shearling collar, a shearling-detailed pointy-toed flat, some bowling bags with vintage logos, and a bordeaux shearling shirtdress. Dunlop Volley-style sneakers with an archive blue Bally swoosh were absolutely “yes, please.”Bally’s people seem very sincere, pleasant, and engaged with their brand. However, to think that the wider world cares so much about the Bally narrative—hardly one of fashion’s most compelling stories—is unrealistic.
25 February 2018
The super-charming member of Bally’s current creative “collective”—who, less free and easily, was not authorized to speak on the record—walked me around this engagingly casual presentation and spun a tale about how the current collections were wearable expressions of the brand’s return from London via Milan. This is why the lovely shape of swallows in flight was incorporated into a menswear tracksuit and the slightly less romantic silhouette of a carrier pigeon was worked into a womenswear piece.Does Bally’s recent brand story—a narrative shaped by its majority sale by Labelux to a new Chinese owner—really merit immortalization in cloth? It’s dubious. There was a film in which some beautiful models wearing Bally were shown packing up their London apartment for a road trip home. Ho-hum.The clothes and accessories, though, were cool. Highlights included a check coat with a shearling collar, a shearling-detailed pointy-toed flat, some bowling bags with vintage logos, and a bordeaux shearling shirtdress. Dunlop Volley-style sneakers with an archive blue Bally swoosh were absolutely “yes, please.”Bally’s people seem very sincere, pleasant, and engaged with their brand. However, to think that the wider world cares so much about the Bally narrative—hardly one of fashion’s most compelling stories—is unrealistic.
25 February 2018
The setup at Bally’s new HQ on Via Piave—in the space where we watched Frida Giannini’s last show at Gucci, and Alessandro Michele’s unheralded, purportedly prepared-in-two-days first—reminded me of my last Airbnb in New York City, on Canal Street above a Korean beauty place. There was a pair of Bally sport socks left on the laundry basket next to the seen-better-days porcelain sink. The kitchen was a mess of empty wine bottles and glasses. Someone had left a handbag on the radiator and a set of bongos below it. There was a guitar on the sofa and a hairdryer on the tea crate alongside it. Basically, it was a slacker’s paradise.The clothes that hung on railings here and there within the mise-en-scène at today’s Bally show would have been a fine wardrobe to inhabit my Canal Street crash pad: Teddy bear shearlings and retro cashmere-blend tracksuits in brown. Some fine jacquard topcoats with big shaggy collars. Some leather sport shorts. A suite of vintage reissued and tweaked heritage Bally trainers, which were gorgeous but also close to their cousin the Dunlop Volley (Best. Sneaker. Ever.), Spring Courts, and Reeboks. Bally’s last creative director, Pablo Coppola, departed in January, but the team he built—called the “Bally Collective”—is continuing his Wes Andersonian legacy in fine enough style.
23 September 2017
A new chapter is beginning for Bally, the Swiss label that has recently undergone one of the stylistic earthquakes that periodically turn the fashion landscape upside down. Presented in a raw space that once housed a movie theater and where the company's new headquarters are under construction, the collection clearly indicated a new direction: more urban, practical, and upscale. The design team infused the compact lineup with a distinctive late ’70s–early ’80s vibe.Among the zeitgeist-y riot of references were the DJ Afrika Bambaataa, rappers Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, the hip-hop duo Eric B. and Rakim, and graffiti artists and street photographers. The new Bally guy wears a perfectly tailored lightweight cagoule or a tracksuit in silk habotai, with trousers neatly tucked into socks. His retro sneakers are treasured replicas of Bally's most successful vintage lace-ups, resuscitated straight from the archives.Logos are prominent throughout the collection in keeping with the current hype surrounding obsolete sportswear labels from the early ’80s; they turned up on canvas totes as a ribbon, printed on silk pajamas, and carved on the back of shearling jackets. Corduroy trousers are worn with matching zip-front track jackets, while oversize trench coats with raglan sleeves are neatly cut with an almost prim flair. After all, a Swiss hipster always keeps his head.
17 June 2017
Pablo Coppola quietly exited Bally last month. The Swiss label’s new Fall collection bears his imprint, but the company is doing some refocusing and putting an emphasis on footwear. After all, it started as a shoe label, so “shoes should be first,” said a brand rep. For women, Bally’s big message this season is its backless babouches. They come in a myriad of treatments, from quite classic to rather quirky, accessorized with Swarovski crystal hearts and lips, as well as gold-dipped poker trinkets. Many feature the Janelle buckle, lifted from a 1969 shoe and destined to become a house signature, the way Roger Vivier has its own buckle and Tod’s has its pebbles. Studs, meanwhile, feel like Valentino’s territory, and Bally should steer clear.Clothes-wise, the studio has made the house patrimony a priority, too. That’s why you’ll find an emphasis on leather, from a rugged washed trench to haircalf printed with animal spots, lined with metallic foil, and used on car-wash skirts. Tuxedo jackets with exaggerated-peak lapels topped ruffled cotton jabot blouses inspired by Prince, may he rest in peace. We’re skeptical about the tuxedo–track pants combo Bally pitched to the boys, but overall the tailoring looked well done, especially a strict trench in a dry wool, densely woven in bordeaux, black, and yellow.
23 February 2017
Pablo Coppola'sBallyoffering for Spring has a distinct Latin flavor. Explaining its genesis, he mentioned the opening of Cuba to American visitors (an event the fashion world watched, he pointed out, via Chanel’s Resort show) and this summer's Rio Olympics. Cuba, in particular, seemed to inform the bright pastel shades of the shoes. Flats are currently selling better than heels at Bally, so there were loads of loafers and babouche-style slides. An espadrille/loafer hybrid looked unique, especially in a crinkled gold tech material. Bags, including the new Balium (a play on the Bally name and the familiar drug, in the form of a shoulder strapped flap style accented with a large B) followed the same exotic color story, but, of course, they'll also be available in lower-key neutrals.Clothing-wise, the Latin connection could be seen in the boxy guayabera-style shirts cut in paper-thin red or turquoise leather and in gaucho-esque wide-legged pants. Layering pieces like a leather mesh tank top and compact knits with tiny laser cuts were inspired by the protective wraps tropical fruit is shipped in. To round things out there were a-line shaped jackets and leather trenches with bold whip-stitching details. Two and a half years ago when he arrived at Bally, Coppola called the clothes “accessories to the accessories.” While they may remain a small part of the overall business, they now have a good deal of flair.The Swiss company has grown during Coppola’s tenure. Stores in Tokyo and Los Angeles have opened recently, and a new Madison Avenue flagship is on the way. Bally isn't yet a thought leader; there were elements in this collection that took strong cues from the house’s bigger European competitors. But in a season that’s shaping up to be all about color, Coppola's Latin instinct was on the money.
24 September 2016
If an Argentinian fashion designer living in London by way of Paris were confronted with the puzzling task of reviving a lethargic Swiss heritage leather brand, it would most likely unleash a culture clash of epic proportions. That’s what more or less happened when Pablo Coppola was appointed asBally’screative director in 2014. Yet the irrepressible energy that the ebullient designer has been able to inject into the proper, restrained, quietly elegant label has proved to be as revitalizing as the youth serums administered to aging beauties in hyper-expensive clinics secluded in the Swiss Alps.The men’s Spring collection, presented together with the women’s Resort line, was proof that Coppola’s joyful South American spirit has so far worked wonders; it translated into a hyper-colorful, slightly madcap lineup that brimmed with a sense of humor. “Opposites attract! It’s a magpie kind of look,” said the designer. To prove his point, he started to enumerate at full throttle a totally bonkers list of references so diverse that it seemed to make absolutely no sense at all: “Bianca Jagger in the ’70s; the Japanese playboy and race driver Tetsu Ikuzawa; Karlheinz Weinberger’s photos of ’60s rebellious gangs from Zurich (Yes! Swiss rebels! They actually existed!); David Hicks’s bold colors for Japanese kimonos; David Hockney and Daidō Moriyama’s graphic works; vintage Ballys posters; Swiss folklore and edelweiss embroidered on Western shirts; Kurt Cobain stylish grunge; Jackie Brown and her pimp-ish gangsta look; the MTV Generation . . .”He could’ve gone on forever, so I begged for mercy. Yet, as if by magic, all this riotous cacophony suddenly gelled in a quite delightful lineup, perfectly balanced in its apparent stylistic madness. It all came down to a wardrobe of simple, well-tailored, wearable pieces in luxury fabrics, easily mixed and matched, with plenty of desirable accessories, fired up with clashing colors and cool details, topped with a modern quirkier-than-quirk attitude. The same mood was applied equally to both lines; stylewise, menswear and womenswear looked well matched, with the same youthful, irreverent, geeky-chic attitude. Certainly, all the magpie extravagance paid a not-so-subtle homage to Gucci-esque flair, but hey! Let the Swiss have a taste of a joyful, irresistible South American creative boldness: It won’t hurt at all, especially at retail.
19 June 2016
A trio of vintage shoes was displayed in glass cases atBally, variously dating from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. Upon viewing the presentation, it was evident that creative director Pablo Coppola threw in an ’80s reference as well. Bally’s ready-to-wear and accessories are very much in keeping, then, with the season’s little-of-this, little-of-that vintage mood. It’s a definite shift from Coppola’s early, rather minimal collections for the over-a-century-and-a-half-old Swiss brand, and he admitted as much. “It’s the color that’s selling,” he said, “so I decided not to fight it.” As Coppola and Bally CEO Frédéric de Narp continue to reinvigorate the formerly sleepy company, it makes business sense to reflect the fashion shifts happening around us.The colors here certainly were bold: bright pink, lime green, and red balanced by black and white and neutrals. For prints, Coppola did leopard spots on a mink jacket, a mod minidress, and glossy knits. A black-and-white swirl pattern lifted from one of Carl Franz Bally’s journals appeared on the collection’s best number: a floor-grazing style with long, ruched sleeves. With a new U.S. flagship on Rodeo Drive in L.A., Coppola said evening will be a bigger part of the house picture. (No Oscar noms in Bally last night, but watch this space next year.) A black V-neck column pieced together from leather and silk qualified as the most elegant and understated look in the lineup. The leopard-spot mink shower slides he paired with it were a different, trendier story. They mingled among fishnet-covered bejeweled-heeled pumps and booties in gold python with pink quilted toe caps. All together? Even more eclectic than those three vintage styles in the glass cases.
29 February 2016
By chance, thePrada-clad fashionland power hub—andLovemagazine editor in chief—Katie Grand entered this presentation alongside your designated Bally Pre-Fall reviewer for today. Little did we know that the collection we were drifting in to see was in part inspired by Grand’s particulars. Pablo Coppola’s peppyIrving Penn–inspired bee-stung lip print featured, he said, some comely divided incisors sourced from Grand’s dental records. Grand’s chompers aside, this collection was the latest in a series of solid Coppola productions. As he often does, he vibed off an idealized midcentury past—or a collage of them—but brought the clothes into the now.So, yes, a plastinated black mini trench wasun peu Belle de Jour. A long brown suede jacket over fitted pants with a triangular cutout on the hem whispered ofLove Story. The chessboard wool gingham suit and spectator shoes were drawn from the menswear collection, presented simultaneously next door. The writhing vipers-nest-of-belts print was carried over from last season, but the sickly purple cellophane-bonded mini and high bomber were a fresh and fine fabrication.This was a Pre to preorder. But had Coppola told his dental muse of her part in his art? “Yes! I just told Katie when she came in. She thought it was funny.” And would he be offering her royalties for her image? “No! And if she asks, I can just switch the story and say it wasVanessa Paradis.”
18 January 2016
Yeah, baby. Pablo Coppola started getting his head into thiscollectionwhen the present was particularly dark. He needed no further incentive to retreat into carefully crafted cultural nostalgia. It’s a loose reminiscence, a mixtape of past muses. “I was looking at that Peter Schlesinger book,Checkered Past, and I was imagining this gang of people, who right now you would consider all to be masters, but back in the day were up-and-coming, on the cusp, royals and dandies mixed with artists and rockers. There was this idea that you could mix anything,” said the designer. So, the striped rugger shirt under purple tux muttered of Hockney. The gingham double-breasted suit and astrakhan collar coats barked like Caine. The white camo shawl-collared jacquard evening jacket with matching slippers was nobody in particular, but held enough resonant touches to become a member of this generation’s up-and-comers’ signature. There was a crisp wool burgundy suit with angled pockets and an interesting pajama suit in knit blue. Especially good was the knitted bottle green coat-cum-robe and a double-breasted leather caban with crocodile arms.Away from the lookbook rails was a pair of white woven sneakers so fine that the temptation to introduce them to the bottom of my man bag was near overwhelming. Before it took hold, Bally’s CEO, Frédéric de Narp, drifted over and delivered an update from the boardroom. He said: “The last 24 months was addressing the birth of the brand. Really accelerating. And it’s done. The look and feel of the stores is set and we are doing 15 to 20 stores this year. Pablo has this vision, and he is bringing it—it is a winner.” It was hard to disagree.
17 January 2016
There was a glint of genius inPablo Coppola’s context-setting question for this collection, which ran: “What will the bourgeois woman in 20 years’ time want to wear?” Why genius? Well, the bourgeois woman of today is wearing a ’90s-touched but ’70s-heavy constellation of signifiers upgraded by the appropriation of post-sportswear streetwear. So it follows that a woman 20 years on will wear something heavily touched by whatever hindsight dictates is now—right now—in 2015/16, shot through with a lot from the ’90s and made relevant by technology and trends that we can’t even begin to anticipate.Were Coppola able to answer his question he would have discovered the Holy Grail—fashion’s Flux Capacitor—a way to short-circuit the self-referential cycle of retrospection and push on into Where We Really Are. The essence of Now. So, did he?It would, of course, be impossible to be truly sure, but this didn’t look like a bad bet. A double-breasted shirtdress, full length in heavy silk crepe, bore the six-buttoned imprint of functions past—about as useful as an appendix yet reassuring somehow—in a fundamentally minimal garment. The cream suiting had a flecked rustication to its finish—Coppola said the intention had been to ape the raggedness of a toile but made ready-to-wear. Not in the lookbook but well worth a look were silk-mix bombers in olive and blush pink with cutely pop-openable backs to flash the spine, that ideally genderless, post fourth-wave feminism erogenous zone.There were foulard prints and hand-finished fringing and suspiciously perfect “moth holes” that were all inserted to heighten the sense of a garment crafted by hand. Next to the main collection, workers fromBally’s recently acquired exotic leather atelier had been brought in to emphasize this still further. Inauthentically, however, their day-to-day tools had been confiscated for being too aesthetically unpleasing. One poor chap was heating his edging iron on a scented candle instead of a Bunsen burner.The testing is now complete at Bally: It is time to go from beta to full-release. Coppola has found his stride, and the 164-year-old Swiss brand’s new David Chipperfield retail proposition has had a year to bed on Bond Street. It will be rolled out in 12 international locations over the next 12 months—first stop, Los Angeles. With collections such as these to fill them, Bally’s new stores will feel relevant in 2016. And perhaps in years hence, too.
25 September 2015
Hipster-luxe. Could it be a thing? Take the look early in the lineup with the outdoorsy urban backpack and the sunglasses perched just so on top of the head: Swap the white pants for denim, nix the foulard, and give that man a beard—surely that's hipster-luxe right there. Especially when you consider that his lumber-sexual check shirt is angora and the sailing jacket is suede and heat-bonded leather.Pablo Coppola is both playful and pragmatic in his approach to Bally. He indulges in flights of fantasy, yet feels a keen sense of responsibility to ensure they will translate to reality. For an illustration, check out the brown is-it-a-one-piece? worn by a model who might either be going on safari or getting ready to pilot a plane. Said Coppola: "We wanted a boilersuit but it kind of looked tooTop Gun-y. So we did it as a shirt and a trouser. We said, 'No, that's not real. I don't know anyone who's going to wear that boilersuit.'"Those twin compulsions, to be expressive but extremely wearable, drove the assembly of a desirable menswear collection. And hipster-luxe was just one of the hyphenates it begged. Coppola's corduroy suits with oversized oblong waterproof suede elbow patches teamed with Bally's pure whites were total sneaker-gent. The olive cashmere Crombie—it came in orange too—over fly-lure print pajamas was pure bro-hemian. This applied to the zigzag suede and nappa sneakers teamed with a Bally-piped cashmere town coat as well. The white snakeskin hikers with red socks, rolled up khakis, and blue parka were preppy-trek. There was nothing you could really call a misstep—even the integration of vintage Bally labels on accessories and a parka was sweet-naïf rather than branding-naff. Overall it was light of touch, down-to-earth, and blessed with a sense of humor.
21 June 2015
Pablo Coppola is carefully redeveloping the ready-to-wear architecture of Bally into a luxurious reconciliation of now and then, in which the womenswear and menswear are linked yet distinct. Here, the connective membrane between the genders was the angora wool buffalo plaid shirt. Hipster-luxe in Coppola's menswear collection, in Resort—teamed with a flat flap-pocket trucker and an apron-pocketed A-line, both in calfskin—it formed part of a sleeker yet nostalgia-touched suite of propositions. He visited Waspy wholesome (silky blazer-buttoned peacoat, Morsetto hardware loafers and belt, denim, white shirt); buckskin gamine (fringed shirtdresses in suede and calf);Charlie's Angels(tight-thighed, kick-calfed pantsuits); and retro-futurist (a tangerine mini-skort suit). The cellophane yarn that ran through ribbed knit crop tops left them looking challengingly shrunken on the rails—apparent victims of a Laundromat calamity—but on the flesh they had a crunchily texturized sheerness. The fly-lure print on piped pajama suits and chevron sliced shifts seemed a touch arbitrary, as it sort of was, but it worked out fine. The concept was thoughtfully defined, the execution precise—right down to the hand-painted edging on a leather caban—and the results (on the whole) were pretty effective: Bally good show.
20 June 2015
"I didn't think I could do another beige trench," Bally's creative director, Pablo Coppola, said, explaining the abundance of color in his new Fall collection. When he arrived at the Swiss brand just over a year ago, Coppola set a course for the classics. It was a smart move—before he got there, the 150-year-old company didn't have much of an identity despite attempts to revive it. Timelessness is a reliable route to timeliness these days. Turns out, though, that it was the bolder pieces that customers were responding to. "You do a camel cashmere sweater and nobody says anything, but do it in fuchsia and they all want it," Coppola explained.Hence the double-face cashmere coat in—yep—fuchsia, a double-breasted blazer with deep fur bands above the wrists, and a mac-yellow ostrich-skin coat. All of it came in more staid shades or sans fur on the other side of the showroom, but Coppola was pushing the brights, and they were the ones that registered, alongside a Margot Tenenbaum brown mink coat. Like Felipe Oliveira Baptista at Lacoste, Coppola was looking at the Wes Anderson 2001 movie this season. Makes you wonder if we'll see a rush ofGrand Budapest Hotelcollections for Fall 2028.
27 February 2015
Its attitude toward financial traceability apart, Switzerland is not a nation particularly noted for relaxedness. And yet under designer Pablo Coppola and CEO Frédéric de Narp, the nation's joint-with-Akris best-known fashion brand—a 164-year-old shoe manufacturer—is loosening up into something pretty appealing. For his second official menswear season at Bally, Coppola did justice to his surname by turning to cinema for inspiration: "a lot of Wes Anderson, and specificallyThe Royal Tenenbaums," he said. There were no terry-cloth sweatbands, but most of the collection was either literally or spiritually in accord with Anderson's world: weasel fur, beanie-teamed beige suiting, and a quirky ski-lift-print silk shirt—a Swiss touch, along with city-ready hiking boots best for hiking from cab to elevator. Then there were "some crazy pieces that we threw in for no reason," said Coppola, like a yellow and gray reversible ostrich-skin mac—nice on the rack, but probably best kept out of the rain.Bally's bread and butter used to be high-grade leather dress shoes, exemplified by its top-of-the-line Scribe collection. Those were here—notably in a rubber-soled goodyear-welted form for the first time—and they remained as handsome as a captain of industry could want. Yet while those shoes are central to the brand, it's fascinating how they now provide only the carbohydrates in its diet. Coppola, in a pair of unsullied Alpine white Bally trainers, reported that Bally now sells more informal shoes than formal. Speaking about the clothes in this collection, he noted, "I like when a young guy looks a bit retro and an old guy looks a bit young. But it is not overly directional. I am not here to say what they should do or wear; they should do whatever they want." As that shoe detail suggests, the balance—even for heritage brands such as Bally—is tipping toward the tastes of the younger generation and those more venerable geezers who wish to ape them. Coppola is compellingly laissez-faire about his own creative process, but he can be: He is the mirror of a new breed of luxury consumer that desires rich materials unpretentiously presented.
18 January 2015
Bally creative director Pablo Coppola laid firm groundwork at his women's accessories and ready-to-wear debut last February, realigning the century-and-a-half-old Swiss brand with its reputation for timeless luxury. Today he loosened up a bit, building on the classic sensibility and silhouettes he introduced last season with a new sense of ease. "When I looked back at Fall, I felt that things were a bit strict," he said. The big surprise was the denim—patchworked, cuffed, and boyfriend slouchy. If it's unlikely that women will think of Bally when they're shopping for their next pair of jeans, it was easy to like the attitude conveyed by the denim, as well as the unstructured blazers and chunky sweaters paired with it.Naturally, Coppola made extensive use of exotic skins, but for every polished croc Perfecto and sleeveless python shift, there were less-extravagant pieces that caught the eye: full, mid-calf leather skirts in bottle green or burgundy, an off-white cotton canvas trench bonded to black leather on the inside, a smart double-breasted pantsuit in soft pink. Chic wardrobe workhorses, all. In contrast, the lawn-stripe dress was a tad more flamboyant, but it worked. That element of fun extended into the accessories. The Corner bag (so named because one of its corners is slashed off) and its brethren were as gimmick- and doodad-free as last season, but now they're coming in electric bright colors.
19 September 2014
"I wanted to give men what they are familiar with," said Bally creative director Pablo Coppola. "We do not need to challenge our customers." With a genial demeanor in keeping with the Swiss brand's cultivated image, he glided between the displayed apparel and accessories, placing emphasis on the latter, in the new men's collection, taking particular delight in illustrating the heritage house's specialty: shoes. A standout among standouts, the Scribe Novo dress loafer was streamlined and more sophisticated than ever, while retaining its distinctive ridge at the small toe. Drivers, boat shoes, and monk-strap oxfords, too, looked as though they had reached their ideal, fully formed state. No more, no less.Before joining Bally in 2013, Coppola served as Dior's senior accessories designer; prior to that, he put in time at Alexander McQueen, Burberry, and Céline. Coppola's cumulative luxury experience, combined with Bally's tried-and-true burnishing techniques, some of which date back to its founding in 1851, made for truly timeless, flawless footwear today, the kind that speaks for itself in whispered tones. Generously sized, masculine-shaped bags will also find plenty of takers. In winsome shades of tan, gray, and oxblood, they ranged from nautical to professorial.Coppola said the small amount of clothing for Spring took its cues from the accessories. Comprehensible at a glance (which is an underrated concept), the pieces included gently retro Glen-plaid blazers, roomy knits such as artfully rumpled turtlenecks, cautiously striped and tapered slacks, and one copper-colored calf-leather biker jacket that would be difficult to improve upon. Another jacket, in a varsity style, could be reversed to hide the single stripe on the collar that, harmless though it was, might be deemed too risqué by someone somewhere.
20 June 2014
A year ago, the biggest attraction at the Bally presentation was a pair of Siberian husky puppies. A lot has changed since then. Designers Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler made their exit, and incoming CEO Frédéric de Narp arrived fresh from a Harry Winston turnaround. Today, Bally's newly appointed design director Pablo Coppola showed his first accessories and ready-to-wear for the Swiss label. Coppola comes from Christian Dior most recently and Tom Ford before that, so this didn't have the feeling of a tentative debut. On the contrary, it was a bold and welcome departure, one that had editors queuing up to meet Coppola.His instinct to clean up the bags and shoes and put an emphasis on construction both inside and out was a smart one. As a 160-year-old brand, Bally should stand for classics, although it certainly doesn't hurt that understated accessories are very much what's in the fashion atmosphere at the moment. Coppola kept hardware to a minimum, focusing instead on glossy leathers in subtly strong colors and non-flashy exotic skins. On the shoe side, an elegant pointy-toe pump and a stacked-heel knee-high boot with a vague 1970s feel both looked good. Among the bags, a square shape with one corner sliced off (an echo of the heel design on Bally's men's shoes) was the most distinctive.Coppola described the ready-to-wear as "accessories to the accessories," but the clothes didn't look like afterthoughts. Here, too, there was an emphasis on craftsmanship and understatement. A camel coat, pinstripe trousers, ribbed pullovers, raw denim jeans, a leather puffer jacket—they were elevated basics, essentially, and strong building blocks for a revived Bally.
22 February 2014
Since the departure of the design duo of Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler in September, the Swiss accessories label Bally has gone without a creative director. This needn't have been an issue, given that under Bally's previous management, Herz and Fidler's ready-to-wear had been sidelined in favor of shoes and bags. But its ambitious new CEO, Frédéric de Narp, has other plans. Bally is to be a lifestyle brand, which means shoes need accessories of their own above the ankles. Herz and Fidler have not been replaced, but the Bally design team worked in conjunction with the young French designer Alexandre Mattiussi of Ami to restart ready-to-wear. Accordingly, they skew younger and trendier than their predecessors, who more often mined the company archives for inspiration.The debut collection under the new leadership is small but not unencouraging. After years of function-driven clothing, it may take time to convince Bally's existing customers to add a double-breasted topcoat or a slouchy pleated trouser to their accessories purchases, however appealing they may be. The transitional step of beginning with the materials and expertise the company already has in hand would seem to be the right one, as in the case of a puffer jacket in soft, black Bally leather.
11 January 2014
Bally fell under the sway of biking for Spring. "Everybody's always whizzing around town on the bike, leaving the car," said Michael Herz, its co-designer. "You can't park." As so often happens with a hundred or so years of brand history behind you, a relevant analogue from the archive presented itself: As it turns out, Bally sponsored the 1952 Tour de Suisse. And so they were off. Herz and Graeme Fidler structured their presentation in three parts: city biking, off-roading, and racing. All of the bags, right down to the crocodile iPad case, were designed to fit on, or snap onto, bike frames. A new shoe, a replica of the 1952 cycling shoe, debuted, though the latter-day version is sneaker-y enough for everyday wear. Which is the nice thing about Bally's entire collection, for those last few of us not whizzing around. The bike coats (né car coats) and blousons in bonded leather and washable, water-repellent techno-suede require no wheels. Nor do the shoes with newly developed FlexTech engineering, which allows for a super-flexible sole on a Goodyear welt construction.
22 June 2013
Bally's Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler outfitted their presentation space like a haute igloo today, complete with faux-sheepskin floors and a pair of real Siberian husky puppies. Those dogs ran away with the show, but when you managed to tear yourself from the Instagram opportunity, there were smart shoes and outerwear to be found here. The designers are a little late getting in on the trend for men's shoes, but they compensated by looking to the Swiss company's 120-plus years of making brogues. A stacked-heel oxford looked good. As for the coats, the designers claimed they were inspired by Lee Miller, the World War II photographer turnedVogueportraitist. The connection wasn't easy to see, but hand-painted buffalo-leather jackets with four-ply cashmere collars, as well as white minks inset with black leather to create a more fitted line, will find admirers anyway.
23 February 2013
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first two men to successfully summit Everest, the latter wearing a pair of Bally reindeer boots. That's the kind of press money can't buy, so with the 60th anniversary of the climb bearing down, designers Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz knew they'd found their source material. They created a facsimile of the original reindeer boot, with modern comforts like a lighter sole and an updated interior. From there, they riffed. There was an "après-ski" version of the boot in marmot, for those who prefer their footwear not to molt (reindeer does, and as raw as Bally's reindeer skin is, it has a slight Christmas barnyard odor, too). There were also tough, lug-soled hikers lined in cashmere, some seamless to be fully waterproof. The ready-to-wear picked up the Everest theme, too. A parka in calf leather came fully tricked out, if not for a full summiting then for most anything else: It had a detachable hood with cashmere lining, marmot trim, and a down body liner. The collection was rounded out with leather pants, chunky knits, and, for those sans Sherpa, a nice big weekender.
12 January 2013
At other houses the clothes dictate the accessories. Not at the Swiss luxury-goods maker Bally—Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler start with the shoes. A dip into the archives revealed styles dating back to the thirties, with curving, ribbonlike uppers; they provided a template for the label's small ready-to-wear offering this season. Exploring positive and negative spaces, the designers came up with a simple shift dress with snakeskin scrollwork at the neckline, and another sleeveless frock with a knit overlay in a cagelike design. On the outerwear front, an acid orange leather anorak gave the collection some pop.
22 September 2012
In the verdant pasture that was the label's menswear presentation, Bally Man and Bally Gal sat sunning. "We wanted to give a tableau of our man in his world," designer Michael Herz explained. So they were surrounded by their accoutrements: a record player and 33s; a fine Swiss camera; a croc-covered water bottle; and, for good measure, a Swiss BMC bike that had won the Tour de France. Not just the same make and model—the very bike itself.There's the Swiss temperament for you: Even in a romantic meadow scene lurks the precision of a champion. The association between Bally, the Swiss shoemaker, and BMC, the bicycle concern, is hardly accidental. "Our point of difference is that we want to innovate," said Graeme Fidler. "It's not about being fashion-forward. It's about being relevant to the customer tomorrow."What most seemed to excite the two designers were the accessories that emphasized innovation. Their collection is long on acetate-welded soles, Goodyear welts (even in casual shoes, like desert boots), and little extras like the removable, leather-soled sock that comes with the hiking-style Forest boot. An unlined suede bag elicited especial glee. Among the apparel, multimaterial pieces like half-suede shorts and reversible suede-and-lambskin jackets set the scene. They all looked ready for a brisk walk in the shade. "He's not a guy who goes clubbing," the designers confirmed.
24 June 2012
"It's all about the light," Bally co-designer Michael Herz said of the label's Resort collection. Cutouts to let that light in were plentiful. They showed up—maybe better to say they showed through—in pretty floral dresses in organza, some trimmed with leather, and in full-on leather frocks with a bit of an Alaïa slant. The white shirt has been having a renaissance in womenswear as well as in menswear of late and was a major building block in this collection, too. "I'm a big fan of just a shirt withsomething," Herz added, and here that something tended to be mini leather gym shorts. The overall feel was light and sweet, girlish where Bally once went womanly. A primmer touch was added by a new shoe shape, one with a squared-off, true box toe.
24 June 2012
The Bally girl this season is a diplomat's daughter circa the seventies who's gotten into her dad's closet, Michael Herz explained at the company's presentation today. It's not as random as it sounds: The Swiss luxury goods house launched ready-to-wear in 1976. Its Fall oxfords are a modernized take on archival shoes from that year, and the new "diplomat bag" is a shrunken version of a hard briefcase that an important man from the era might've carried.Herz and his design partner, Graeme Fidler, otherwise resisted the urge to go retro. Rather, the collection felt of this moment, with lots of peplums on dresses and other references to trending topics like the military and motorcycling. A trompe l'oeil print of a biker jacket on a tee and a T-shirt dress was a misstep, though. At Bally prices, pieces like that are no joke.Leather being the brand's stock-in-trade, outerwear was the standout here. A red leather coat with covered snap closures came with a removable double-breasted panel, so you could also wear it single-breasted, and its bold shearling collar unzipped into an even bolder hood. It's available in black, too, but the cut and the fit are so good, you'd be no less conspicuous in it.
25 February 2012
Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz's success at Bally comes in part from their increasing the shoppability of the label. They've got a sure hand for tweaking archival classics to create new pieces, like their Zurich pump, but a smart head for offering manifold versions, too. For pre-fall, the Zurich comes in suede, patent, and nappa leather; special versions come in hand-painted ostrich and croc. For the ready-to-wear, the designers kept the house message strong with pieces incorporating leather, whether partway, as in the trim on a flannel blazer, or full-on, as in gathered-waist skirts and trenches. Silk dresses and skirts were printed with an abstract floral adapted from the Bally archive.
14 January 2012
After a few seasons of pushing fashion at Bally, Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz are finding classics more their speed. It's not that their new men's collection for the Swiss label isn't stylish—it is—but honing in on the label's heritage and strongest suits is the new order of the day. Bally has a long history to draw upon, and Fidler and Herz saw to it that their presentation did just that.They recreated vintage Bally advertising posters to stage their goods, but what was staged was actually very new. There was the expanded, high-end Scribe collection, with more skins (including matte ostrich and matte croc) and more shapes. The entry level was extended, too. It's well-known that Bally's artisans can craft a fine hand-stitched shoe, but the duo is introducing cemented styles, too. Glue can be a dirty word in footwear, but remembering that the company is behind the adhesive that held together some of the first moon boots suggests that Elmer's isn't in the cards. Their new ultralight, cemented line is their most cost-approachable yet.In ready-to-wear, they turned their attention mostly to coats. They showed a variety of military-inspired options, from a commanding officer's coat to a peacoat in calfskin specially treated to be water-repellent. Each detail was considered, from zip-off sections to bonded zippers that seal up, watertight. They'll come in standard and a foil-coated, "snow-frosted" version that nods to the collection's inspiration: stopping by woods on a snowy evening.Brr!
14 January 2012
Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler have a lot to work with in the Bally archive: 10,000 shoes and 1,200 illustrations. Lining one wall of their installation today were some of those artworks, including a drawing of a delicate red sandal circa 1951 that the designers used as inspiration for Spring. Herz compared its design to a cat's cradle. The leather laces on its descendants twist, knot, and cross over one another in different variations. Most came in red, but they were also shown in nude and navy.Leather formed the basis of the ready-to-wear, too, but while the sandals were quite feminine, the clothes for the most part were more streamlined, in keeping with Bally's last Spring collection. The coats came laser-cut with tiny perforations, not just for surface interest, but also to give them an easy-to-wear lightness. The leather dresses—a one-shoulder style in white on top and black on the bottom, and a brown sheath with a twist at the waistline—were both quite good. Of the experiments with embellishment, a pink lace shift will find more fans than a green leather T-shirt embroidered with cracked Plexiglas. The photo print of the Plexi on a knee-length dress fit better with the designers' more minimal vocabulary.
24 September 2011
The starting point for the Bally Spring 2012 men's collection, according to Michael Herz, who designs the line with Graeme Fidler, was a real-life ballet company who visited Paris in 1951 and stayed at the Scribe. (The hotel has already given its name to one of the house's best-selling shoe styles, seen here in an attractive new lightweight lace-up version called the Scribe Légère.) That may be more backstory than is strictly required to understand what Herz readily admits is a range of "believable menswear." The fifties inspiration lent a bit ofTalented Mr. Ripleypanache to basics like leather bombers, flat-front khakis, and shawl-neck knits. Bringing things up to date were lightweight treatments such as perforated skins and details like the contrasting collar and cuffs on a leather Harrington. Similarly, patterned appliqués and sophisticated tones like dove gray lent new interest to classic holdalls. Herz believes he and Fidler, now in their second season at Bally, are laying a solid foundation for the company going forward. They're clearly enjoying the support provided by the Swiss-based label, for whom they recently shot a womenswear campaign with a certain big-name photographer. "I can't believe I was in a room with Steven Meisel," Herz said.
19 June 2011
For Resort, Bally's Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz dreamt of St. Moritz—"summer by the lake," they said. For a leather-centric house like this one, warm weather can pose a bit of a challenge. "It's about finding a way to make leather for the summer," Herz said as a parade of models (top girls all, for what it's worth) stomped through the showroom.The answer was, do more with less. Leather and suede appeared frequently, but pieced together with linen, cotton, and silk. A square-cut T-shirt alternated panels of leather and linen, and pretty printed dresses were finished off (perhaps a mite too decoratively) with leather belt bows. Even shoes got subjected to the cutout treatment: Sandal heels and flat oxfords were skeletons of their full-formed selves. Shapes emphasized volume, with A-line skirts, wide-leg pants, tunic tops, and trapeze dresses—room to breathe, in other words, which you'd no doubt want while lounging by the lake. On the whole, the collection skewed quite minimal, which made for a dignified offering. If it was occasionally out of step with the print-mad moment (though a few geometric patterns at the end nodded at printomania), it was nonetheless true to the streamlined, aristocratic chic Fidler and Herz are making their signature at the label.
13 June 2011
"Bally is a shoe company, so it's all about a coat, long legs, and a shoe," Michael Herz said at the company's presentation today. For Fall, he and his design partner, Graeme Fidler, imagined an après-ski scenario, using blocks of fake ice to prop up their ice pick-heeled hiking booties and suede OTK boots with climbing rope detailing. If some of the footwear erred on the gimmicky side, the clothes tread more lightly on the theme. Outerwear, as Herz promised, was the focus. It ranged from a cool cropped leather jacket paneled with goat fur (it looked almost as if a vest had been tossed over it) to a toggle swing coat cut in a herringbone tweed to a blue bonded leather peacoat. Dresses in an Edelweiss jacquard and a black and white check had the same thigh-grazing silhouette. Ditto the short sheepskin frock. It sounds like a head-scratcher, but it worked.A small room was devoted to accessories that riffed on Bally's 160-year history. There were lots of different takes on brogues, but not a conservative pair in the bunch. It looks like the company is in inventive hands with this creative duo.
24 February 2011
Bally's men's presentation—its first under recently appointed creative directors Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz—featured footage of rare bison projected on the wall. Fidler said the goal was to "bring out the emotion in the brand" via masculine clothing and natural beauty.The natural element was expressed in the materials: mainly leather, the house specialty for 160 years, though there were fine marled cashmeres and Shetland knits, too. The designers, formerly of Aquascutum, like to emphasize the timelessness and history of the Bally label when talking about their repositioning of the brand. For accessories, something men are already going to Bally for, they were boldest about updating their offerings. The brogued wingtip Birbur boot comes in 26-hole height and dark, burnished colors—most covetably, a deep pine green.Those felt more now than then, but the perspective wasn't yet quite strong enough in ready-to-wear. There was a military inspiration, especially in a passage of cavalry twills and an officer's coat in bonded green and chocolate deerskin. That does suggest an update to the old standard, of course—probably no two-tone deerskin overcoats were noted among nineteenth-century Swiss infantrymen. But if Bally is to compete with resurgent heritage brands like Burberry and Trussardi, it will have to keep a closer eye on the present. Throughout, there were plenty of glimpses of what's possible, like a navy twill parka detailed in leather and lined in shearling but backed with cutout suede for the warmth without the weight.
17 January 2011
Bally's new designer team, Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz, inherited the label in a state of slight disrepair. "Bags were one thing, shoes another, ready-to-wear another," Herz said at an informal runway presentation—the first fully under their auspices—at the label's Manhattan showroom today. "We wanted to unify the brand."They started from the ground up: specifically, with a pump inspired by an archival model from 1959. The English duo sexed up the décolleté, modernized the heel, and turned it out in rich gem colors like azure and deep green, plus a few in croc. Voilà—fifties-inspired, but register-friendly in 2011, especially in our pump-happy moment. The clothing followed the fifties/sixties vibe. It was sporty but elegant and ladylike—think Tippi Hedren circaThe Birds. Then again, Tippi's wardrobe wasn't this leather-centric. Skin was everywhere, from the contrast collar on a white cotton shirt to the stretch nappa of a body-hugging mid-length skirt. "Our heritage is as a leather house," Herz explained. Out walked a showstopping, fully reversible ostrich leather trench, a vibrant ocher yellow on one side, a neutral the designers call Calico on the other. It was heritage-respecting but not traditional; hide, maybe, but not hidebound. It will be interesting to see where Fidler and Herz can push their new charge next.
10 January 2011
Brian Atwood is out at Bally and Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz are in. The designers, who were last at the British heritage label Aquascutum, moved quickly to sharpen this Swiss brand's edges. They went back into the archives to find the square heel shape they used for wood- and metal-soled shoes, and their bags have a geometric precision that's very much in keeping with the Celine-led trend for boxy, clean shapes without much in the way of hardware.The clothing, likewise, had a spare sensibility—precise but still sensual. Streamlined outerwear married natural linen canvas to bonded leather in black or caramel, which was also used for sleek apron-style, to-the-floor evening dresses. The duo's take on the designer sweatshirt, shown in off-white and color-blocked shades of red, yellow, and green, was slightly shrunken, almost waxy. Color also came through in easy, bare cotton day dresses with a tie-dye-style print. This was a small, tightly edited ready-to-wear collection destined only for the company's shops, but it had an of-the-moment sportif minimalism that could make Bally stores busier places next spring.
23 September 2010
Inspired by the makeover success stories of labels such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry, Harvard-trained business-graduate-turned-designer Scott Fellows is determined to make Bally the next world-class luxury brand.In these label-obsessed times, a globally recognized name is a prized asset for any fashion house. And for the last few seasons, Bally has made considerable efforts to update its prestigious history, opening revamped flagships and launching a full clothing line. After making a splash with last season's chic woven leathers, Fellows went for graphic, simple basics this time around. A white tailored pantsuit was accented with a diamond-pattern cummerbund waistband; square-ribbon skirts and shifts looked perfectly prim.Bally's strategy is to create wearable, luxurious pieces that don't slavishly follow trends. While many of Fellows' designs fit that bill, others, like the geometric-inset leather dresses and trousers, fell short of expectations. If the label is to succeed in the competitive luxury-goods arena, the Bally team will have to flex a little more creative muscle.
2 October 2001