“What is essential is invisible to the eye” is a famous quote from Saint Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Yet Walter Chiapponi believes that “what is essential is visible to the eye—but not to everyone.” The phrase has served as an inspiring principle for him, and also for the work he’s doing at Tod’s.
For resort, Chiapponi’s quest for simplicity was apparent in the streamlining of silhouettes, the stripping down of decorative details, and the reduction of anything “superfluous,” as he called it. Not that Tod’s is known for its over-the-top maximalism, quite the contrary; yet here he added even more clarity to his reading of the label’s codes. “If I close the eyes, what I’d like to see are just neat outlines, with no distractions.”
Tailoring was offered in relaxed and slender versions; the oversized proportions of seasons past were replaced by more unstructured volumes. Monochrome pantsuits had collarless blazers (“I wanted to get rid of everything that wasn’t strictly functional,” he said), that extended into fluid palazzo pants, while puffy bombers cropped at the waist slimmed down into pencil skirts for a thin, lithe silhouette. A standout was a shortened perfecto, stitched in an elasticated chevron pattern that hinted at a geometric textural decoration.
While obviously luxurious, the collection had a natural, easy feel to it. Tod’s is about high quality and craftsmanship, yet looks conveyed a sort of self-confident simplicity. “There’s nothing über-sleek, cold, or over-designed,” he said. “Rather something more emotional and spontaneous; I believe it’s what the times call for.”
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