Visitors to Aspesi’s spring presentation could drink in an array of sophisticated, dusty colors with their eyes, and with their hands caress a wealth of fine fabrics — mainly cotton, poplin, linen and silk — that were smooth and cool to the touch.
Here was another succinct proposition for smart wardrobe additions, according to your taste. Why not a short-sleeved navy sweater in a fine-gauge knit; a short-sleeved camp shirt with some geometric seams suggestive of a guayabera, or an olive-toned snap-front shirt, gently padded and weightless?
With great subtlety, creative director Lawrence Steele etched a few themes — vintage military, Cuba, California — knowing Aspesi’s customers are looking for timeless clothes, not fashion.
“My particular interest was doing something that felt softer, so muted tones, and softer materials,” Steele explained during a walk-through. “It’s always kind of curating a wardrobe more than designing a collection.”
While rooted in neutrals, the brand offers a range of color stories, including black, navy and white for more metropolitan situations. And it is not without cheek.
Slogan T-shirts bear the Italian words for silence and nervousness, plus another very apt for Aspesi: “né carne né pesce,” the equivalent of the English phrase “neither fish nor fowl,” connoting someone — or something — that is not easily categorized.