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Old, new, borrowed, blue: Palm Angels had it all, and tossed in some tie-dye and Hawaiian prints, too. Francesco Ragazzi’s collection was a happy mash-up of vintage-shop finds and signature streetwear, with lots of color, pattern and texture. There were a few random combinations as well, like maybe a three-year-old, or a hungover student, put the looks together, in the dark.
Overall, it was lots of fun, with a marine blue and white hibiscus print magnified over pieces including a topcoat, butterflies large and small fluttering across a boxy white jacket and trousers with utility straps. Tie-dye worked as pink stripes on a black hoodie or thick bands of bright yellow and dark green on an oversized sweater and scarf combo.
A rainbow ski vest — circa 1977 — made its way down the runway, as did a varsity jacket and even more flower prints: They came as a repeating pattern on a suit, a blown-up and bleached-out placement print on a coat or as a riot of color on a floaty anorak.
Ragazzi’s signature street and utilitarian shapes were out in force, in the form of cropped trousers with thick, contrasting stripes on the inseam, boxy jackets, trousers and culottes, and detachable leather pockets on shirts and jackets.
There were a few things going on here: Street-leaning designers everywhere have been upping their respective games, adding soft edges, bright colors, feminine touches and a big dose of tailoring to spare, utilitarian shapes. It was bound to happen.
That’s not all. Vintage clothing lies at the heart of a sustainable wardrobe. Investing in old clothes flies in the face of throwaway culture and channels the green mantra of “reduce, reuse and recycle.” Finally, thanks partly to the tidying guru Mary Kondo, vintage shops — and charity ones, too — are the new places to see and be seen.