Philipp Plein Pre-Fall 2023 Collection

Speeding (legally) up the autostrada from Milan to Lugano in a Mercedes G stuffed with panettoni and samples, Philipp Plein checked in hands-free to update on pre-fall. Almost immediately we diverted: ground covered included family life, new store openings in Qatar (today), Frankfurt airport (tomorrow), Brazil (last week), and ten further locations (these for Plein Sport) in the months ahead. Overall, Plein said, the company is seeing its greatest growth in wholesale while online is keeping level with 2021’s pandemic prompted gains. Next year will also see major pushes in South America and a new opening in New York, on Spring Street. The Plein show previously planned for New York in February will instead happen in September.

We got to pre-fall. Self-evidently, this was a paisley heavy collection, following the summer’s heavy petal Hawaiian-inspired florals. “It’s a common trend. You see it in fashion brands all the time, like Dior, and of course Etro is always married to it. Obviously you cannot reinvent it, but we did it in our own way.” Beaded on outerwear, embroidered on ripped denim, studded onto bags and leather garments, and printed on silks—sometimes full looks—plus sneakers, it was, as Plein said, the theme of his season. The most explicit Plein-ification came on basketball vests whose teardrop seedling decorations were planted to create the pattern of the house skull.

Elsewhere there was an emphasis on sartorial menswear and classically impactful women’s eveningwear often presented above a new metal-toed inset heel-shaped shoe design. “People are dancing and partying again,” said Plein, “so this is a response to what we are hearing they want to party in. You know, right now, I’m thinking like a retailer. Pre-collections are typically 65% of the business or more. We want to overperform again next year. It’s exciting.” We cut the call as he went into a tunnel, eyes fixed ahead.