Tod’s creative director Walter Chiapponi wants ‘’to respond to this moment with culture, sophistication, elegance and glamour’’, and for the brand’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection, he admitted he was looking to infuse ‘’more creativity and eccentricity than ever’’ and to introduce sensuality and femininity into Tod’s language.
This season, he worked on Tod’s classic outerwear repertoire, seen through the lens of what he called ‘’a couture spirit’’. Referencing a ’50s-inflected bourgeois silhouette, he added new and unexpected details as a touch of flourish and softness to Tod’s core accessories and to the clothes.
The new collection showcased both classic items like suede coats and trenches reinvented with either romantic ruffled or futuristic collars. Tod’s classical browns got mixed with feminine pastels that created a rather spring feeling to warm us in the cold season.
Chiapponi also injected a playful attitude that revisited the Milanese, ladylike bourgeois image. In fact, the designer admitted he was also inspired by Luis Buñuel and his 1972 film ‘’The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’’, or Catherine Deneuve in his 1967 ‘’Belle de Jour’’, but the imagery also went back to Irving Penn and Helmut Newton.
In the video accompanying the collection, models displayed the collection walking through the Milan’s newly restored contemporary art exhibition space Galleria Massimo De Carlo, designed by Piero Portaluppi, who also created Villa Necchi Campiglio, juxtaposing Tod’s creative director Walter Chiapponi’s creations with architecture. The colors of the historical building either matched the coats, shoes, and bags or they clashed in a standout way.