Boss RTW Fall 2022
Boss has spoiled international guests with blockbuster spectacles in recent season, from the event in the Dubai desert to last year’s baseball-themed fest in Milan.
Yet Thursday night’s extravaganza was a high-voltage event for more reasons than those provided by the expected ingredients such as the stellar cast, the ginormous city arena, the influencer-packed front row, the stunts and an after party.
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This event struck a few chords, balancing marketing acumen (the see now, buy now collection was instantly shoppable on TikTok in the U.K and via the website livestream video in the EMEA region), “credibility” as Miah Sullivan, Boss’s senior vice president of global marketing and brand communications, put it, and social relevance.
Fashion goes first. Let’s get it out of the way early. Boss lived up to the expectations of nostalgic viewers craving for an updated return of the power suit that the brand helped establish back in the day, here blended with moto-style.
Marco Falcioni, the new senior vice president of creative direction, had 1992 Boss ads glued to his moodboard. How to make the return of that power garment memorable? Enter Naomi Campbell, who opened the show as confident as ever in a broad-shouldered overcoat thrown over a liquid looking pantsuit, and Future wrapping up the 60-plus look parade in a fluid all-black tuxedo.
All that happened in between was the real juice.
As models strut down the runway, if it were not for the rumbles of their engines, viewers would have hardly noticed biker stunts doing acrobatic tricks.
Look 39, a sexy silk bra and high-slit skirt was sported by Latecia, a plus-size model. Veronica Plebani, look 16, a Paralympic athlete, looked cool wrapped in a one-sleeved ribbed knit frock. Iraqi TV host and disability activist Zainab Al-Eqabi donned a military-inflected oversize trenchcoat combining camel and black, the label’s post-rebranding color codes.
“They are all people who are very close to the brand,” Sullivan said backstage. “Diversity has been a real motivator of brand energy in the last year,” she said.
“This is the way,” echoed Falcioni. “To be powerful you don’t need to be harsh,” he said.
Before leaving the venue, Chella Man, a transgender and deaf artist, director and curator dreaming of a modeling career, swung by the two executives and showed on their phone a heartfelt thank you note. Both were almost tear-eyed.
Launch Gallery: Boss RTW Spring 2023
