TRUSSARDI F / W 2015 MENSWEAR

TRUSSARDI F / W 2015

There are images that are forever lodged in the collective subconscious, and periodically come back to haunt or inspire. Gaia Trussardi kept thinking of a Kurt Cobain portrait shot by photographer Jesse Frohman as she started designing the Trussardi collection. 

 It’s an iconic shot: Cobain, in his signature haphazard layers and aviator cap, looks at the camera through oversized white-frame sunglasses, at once sarcastic and melancholic. 

"Kurt Cobain was so elegant in his utter fragility: That's what inspired me," said Trussardi today, adding that she wanted to create a luxurious version of grunge. 

The notion of taking what's rough and raw, even poor, and turning it into something precious is hardly surprising. It has happened many times in fashion. You know the method: Take the shape, cut it into an expensive fabric, and give the privileged a frisson of how the outcasts dress, without compromising on luxe. 

That said, Trussardi never pretended to reinvent the wheel. She used the oversized volumes and multiple layers of grunge to twist and turn the house's staples. Leather was featured in abundance, in the form of superbly supple deerskin for voluminous parkas and jean blousons worn on top of bouclé cardigans and cargo pants—again in leather—or five-pocket jeans that were actually made of cashmere. Cobain's ripped tees turned into gauzy cashmere underpinnings in the process.

That's all we got: glorified basics in expensive textures. The idea worked, and the pieces indeed came out well. What was lacking, however, was the desire factor, the magic that turns a piece of clothing into an object customers cannot live without. 

 A little more daring in the future could help. The Trussardi man, after all, is an adventurer. He deserves some guts. Gaia Trussardi has them, so it's time to bring them out.