Rebellion can come in many guises, including wrapped in candy hues and cascades of glitzy sequins. At least that’s according to Alessandro Dell’Acqua, who continued to spice up bourgeois fashion archetypes in a No. 21 pre-fall 2025 collection that wasn’t short on embellishments, femininity and an anarchic undertone sparked by its mix of garments and colors.
The range built on the ‘60s mood the designer channeled in the brand’s spring 2025 show, when he “analyzed the inventive spirit of the woman who, from both fashion and cultural perspectives, very much sets her own trends.”
“Continuing to explore this particular element, I realized that the possibilities manifested in that generation of individuals were far greater than originally thought, and that some actually remained unexplored in the decades afterward. As, for example, a certain propensity for quirkiness,” he said.
He aimed to embrace this trait in an approachable yet still eccentric way. He combined an oversize leopard-print wool polo shirt with a quilted crepe de chine skirt in bubble gum pink and red opera gloves, and offset the rich appearance of a gold bouclé suit with a mannish striped shirt or the shine of gold tweed or sequined skirts with lovely fuzzy mohair sweaters in pastel hues.
Elsewhere, romantic chiffon dresses with ruches mingled with felted caban coats and nylon bomber jackets, while Casentino wool twinsets were juxtaposed with faille skirts with big bows. Dell’Acqua’s creative pendulum swung between the girly and the mannish but eventually landed on the former as ‘60s-inspired little coats and embellished prim frocks were the collection’s standouts.
