Everybody remembers the noughties: the emergence of the Internet, the aftermath of 9/11, and the first decade of the Digital Age. For Fall 2019, designers Lors Messina and Simone Rizzo remember the era all too clearly, so much so that they were inspired by it for their latest Sunnei Menswear line. Here, they put forth a unisex wardrobe of elongated silhouettes in bright colors and quirky prints. This wasn’t necessarily a rehash of the period’s iconic fashions—thankfully so, in our opinion—but rather a blurry memory of a time when things were, quite comparatively, simpler. This was perhaps best manifested by the floral and meadow-printed ensembles in the show, namely a midi-length slip and a bulky sweater with round sleeves. If they looked familiar, that’s because these graphics were the default backgrounds of a Windows 98, practically the most used technology at the time. Further nudges to this bygone era were the bright-colored (we felt they almost looked neon) pieces that caught people’s eyes as they went down the runway. They had a bagginess to them that was soo 2000s, they looked quite novel. But are they new? Unfortunately not! In fact, some of these looks were downright confusing, even borderline ugly! Designers these days have to realize that just playing into nostalgia won’t always work. They need to put in some more thought into their designs to really let them stand out. These pieces are almost thoughtless,.and some of them even look like rehashes of past styles—those of which that should have been left in the past. If Messina and Rizzo want to make a bigger impact with their Sunnei brand in the fashion world, they should set their sights more into the future and less in the past!
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
