Like many designers before them, Giorgia Tordini and Gilda Ambrosio found themselves smitten with the bizarrely charming style and lifestyle of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale for their spring collection. If a bit late to the “Grey Gardens” party, Tordini and Ambrosio definitely made a party out of the housebound mother/daughter eccentrics, staging their presentation in a cheery Milanese apartment in which no surface was left un-upholstered, un-carpeted or un-wallpapered.
“This is definitely not exactly what happened in their situation because this is much more fun,” said Tordini. She and her design partner went wild with a rainbow palette, sequins and feathers worked on festive frocks and louche-ly glam separates. Much of it felt loosely Seventies-inspired, but nothing was generic. A sequined minidress was done in a groovy wave of rainbow sequined stripes. A crisp white poplin wrapdress with a sweetheart neck was punctuated with a red glitter flower at the hip. A red sequined tea dress would make Dorothy feel like she got short shrift. New pouch bags were meant to be worn around the neck to keep hands free, and as for the embroidered mesh slides reminiscent of slippers from Chinatown, Tordini imagined that Big and Little Edie were “spending so much time in the house they want to be comfortable.” Wink-wink. The girl wearing these clothes was born for going out.