Ermanno Scervino Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection

It’s not a country for old men. Even Ermanno Scervino, a brand that has always celebrated Italian style in its most classic form, is today focused on the young. For spring, designer Ermanno Daelli said he wanted to think of the younger generation by applying his mastery to a more playful approach to dressing: “Girls are girls: They rightly want to discover themselves, feel free, experiment. That’s why I wanted to play with tops and short skirts, but most of all I focused on technology.” 

The collection was full of workmanship that required new studies, several trials, and the patient awareness that fashion is always in motion and real change often comes from the production departments. So what was once a corsetry company has now learned to work with synthetic leather, while still searching for an alternative term after Italy banned calling synthetic materials that imitate leather “leather.” The result is a soft, lightweight material here used for a double trench coat over which floral motifs were embroidered, and other pieces in the collection. “The only natural leather I used was for the cream-colored pieces, because the dye didn’t convince us,” said Daelli. “We’ll see what happens with the next trials.”

Experimentation continued on the evening garments: sheath dresses, skirts, and jackets completely covered in transparent sequins for a liquid effect. Knitwear became almost grunge thanks to encrustations of sequins. The print of the season was camouflage in cream and beige, the jacket a kind of utilitywear version in waterproof fabric with patch pockets. Finally, macramé lace, a hallmark of Scervino, was superimposed on chiffon with heat-sealed micro-crystals and worked in patchwork, yellow, pink, and beige. Very Barbiecore.