An Ottolinger show is not so much an event as a manifesto, a cultish gathering of fierce looks.
Show notes printed like something out of Minority Report proclaimed, variously, “you are committed to form but not material,” “solar-panel chic,” "the machine is raging” and “you are dressed for every evening of your life unfolding at once.” Most of the guests were onboard with that last point.
Backstage, amid clouds of white dust and just minutes before the opening, Cosima Gadient and Christa Bösch offered a summary of the brand's mood for fall. “It’s like a sporty mission girl,” said Gadient, herself a former gamer. “We’re always going forward, never looking back, really strong and really ambitious.”
The collection was an easy stand-in for fearless female avatars everywhere, with an extra lashing of ever-popular kitten-print collages on red catsuits. “It’s a cliché that you can turn into something super modern,” said Gadient. That, or something utterly ironic, which is always irresistible to Ottolinger’s fans.
Elsewhere, fall’s proposition of ski wear, puffers and revisited Barbour jackets should keep the tills humming. The first of a planned two collaborations with Puma, here on shoes and bags, highlighted Formula 1 racing shoes, a boot-sneaker hybrid plucked from the early aughts and revisited here in black, black and white, or gold.
