The linear luxury of Sunnei's SS21 collection

The theatre of Sunnei's latest show, held on Thursday night for the SS21 collection, was the giant emptied pool of Lido di Milano. To the sound of pulsating music, forty male and female looks followed each other on the gigantic catwalk in a growing dimness cut by raw beams of light. This collection, an ideal continuation of the Sunnei Canvas digital project presented at last digital fashion week, has taken the language of the brand of Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo to a new level that has directed the naïf futurism of the previous collections in a new direction more adult and stratified, and therefore also more personal.

If only one concept were to emerge from yesterday's show, it would be that of linearity. Unlike the more elaborate volumes seen in the previous Spring-Summer collections, in fact, the silhouettes of this SS21 appeared less bulging and architectural but not simpler. Unlike the towering platform shoes and chunky sneakers of the past seasons, for example, this collection has presented a new type of footwear – a kind of synthetic zip-up boot with a spiked sole. The boot would have the same gorpcore-apocalyptic mood as the React Boot designed by Jun Takahashi for Nike were it not for the colors and lightweight materials – which make it pleasantly extravagant, not to say alien, and represent a design work much more advanced than what we have seen so far from the brand. 

A new rawness has made its way into the designs of the two creative directors of Sunnei – manifested in the treatment of the seams of certain pants, in the hems of a feminine denim top, in the ultra-maximalist handles of some of the square bags but also in the crochet processing of a bag alternating with the traditional shiny leather as well as in the flood of check patterns and contrasting stitches that decorates some of the looks. The collection did not alter the fundamental lines of the brand's identity but coloured them with broader and harder brushstrokes – that is, more energetic. 

If the womanswear of the collection, finally, appears the most structured and architectural, with layering and accessories, as well as with clothes in color blocking and seams that cut the silhouettes at the bottom, menswear appears simplified instead. There is almost a sense of orientalism in men's tops, which become almost caftans and tunics in some cases, and in jackets without lapels, whose lines curve according to a vaguely Asian aesthetic. There is, of course, sportswear inspirations made more sophisticated by the richness of the materials, and a series of burgundy leather outerwear that are perhaps among the most interesting proposals in the collection.

The SS21 collection seems symbolic of a growth for the brand that, in addition to being emancipated from the category of "young brand" becoming one of the mainstays of Milan fashion week, is experiencing a phase of fertile renewal: the first fashion show in women's fashion week, the new Palazzina Sunnei that has become the official headquarters of the brand and especially the new deal with the industrial group Vanguards (already owner of Nanushka) logistics of the brand towards much wider horizons than in the past.