AMI: A minimalist homage to the maximalist '80s

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 11, 2021

Just when you thought that Paris Fashion Week had finally ended, when along comes Alexandre Mattiussi of AMI with a final video show on Thursday.

 
One dedicated in large part to the good old days of fashion, back in the '80s, when runway shows suddenly began to grab the attention of a global audience.
 
A time, pre-9/11, when fashion shows didn’t require huge security staff, when photographers were allowed to line every yard of the runway, and not confined to a packed photo pit as they are today. As in AMI’s new show video entitled 'Le Défilé,' French for 'runway show,' which was shot with tremendous punch by the very happening Spanish filmmaker and luxury ad specialist Alvaro Colum.

We’re talking about three decades ago and the era of supermodels, just as designers suddenly became global tastemakers; a decade this collection referenced throughout with its big power shoulders and superhero volumes.
 
“I wanted to go back to the time which inspired me to be a designer in the first place. When they first began showing fashion shows on TV when I was a kid. And I was thinking of the designers who were great then, the Wall Street power of Michael Kors, and the big statement fashion of Gianfranco Ferré,” explained AMI’s founder and creative director Alexandre Mattiussi.
 
Never a slouch commercially, the designer even introduced a sleek new padded patent leather lunch box-shaped bag, named 'The Rendezvous,' “as that’s all we can dream about when this lockdown ends.”
 
The result was a high-energy clip, where the cast burst into the Palais de Tokyo – the fictitious location fashion aficionados will recall from the era’s great fashion rock video, George Michael’s 'Too Funky.'  Scores of photographers fighting for a good camera angle of the catwalk stars. Instead of Linda Evangelista or Nadja Auermann, Mattiussi sent out Fernando Cabral and Adut Akech, who takes a limo to the shoot to begin the video.
 
All very tailored, for men and women in this co-ed video, albeit with forgiving cuts, seen in striking electric blue wool redingotes and bold mannish jackets for the gals. Minimalist trucker blousons; sensational chucky wool sweaters with the house’s A Heart logo, and for the finale, a screen-goddess white gown in thousands of strings of bugle beads.
 
While the guys appeared in teal-colored green rock-producer suits; dude duffle coats; giant tropical orange parkas and mega houndstooth overcoats – très Ferré.
 
Gianfranco would have been pleased with the homage; a yearning for the naive energy of fashion when it suddenly became a global phenomenon in this Mattiussi’s youth.