Mirrors are displacing devices. According to philosopher Michel Foucault a mirror is a “placeless place”, which means, in fact, a parallel dimension. This very idea is central to 1910 Borbonese: a parallel dimension to Borbonese as envisioned by Dorian Tarantini and Matteo Mena. This season, guests enter the solemn spaces of San Paolo Converso to find themselves displaced into a wholly mirrored scene with stylized palms on the altar suggesting a desert landscape. Glistening with reflections, the mirror makes the presence of a glaring sun felt, as a vision of desert modernism unfolds. The collection is a juxtaposition of graphic motifs, mirrored surfaces and plant textures, with Borbonese’s signature OP pattern constantly flowing on the background. A subcultural sensibility drenched with an enduring fascination for fashion as pure pomp, Dorian Tarantini and Matteo Mena keep giving an interpretation of Borbonese that while respectful of the roots takes bold, unexpected twists and turns, insouciantly playing with notions of good and bad taste to herald an idea of extreme glamour. The 1910 Borbonese woman, this season, is a spiky femme, towering on pointy stiletto heeled slingback, a mirror leather sun reflector around her neck to catch the faintest ray of light, extreme flares making her look even taller, bathing suits and skimpy dresses offering her best, sculpted self to the world, chromed metallic sunglasses shielding her eyes. Fierce and uncompromising, she locks herself up in a checkerboard trenchcoat or wears a bathrobe as a coat, waist cinched by an OP sash belt. She has a fondness for suede, printed in hyper realistic cactus motifs, and for foliage patterns tailored into double breasted suits. Her blouses are dramatic, her suits are powerful. The wardrobe she owns and flaunts is focused yet full of surprises, running from statement coats to accessories such as the micro or macro Luna bag and mirrored disc earrings to insouciant t-shirts with Borbonese spelt out like a Hollywood insignia. Black, white, metal, cactus greens and OP beige seal the message precisely, colorwise. 1910 is Borbonese seen through a mirror that distorts, enhances and augments, pushing everything to the max.
