After seasons of variously staged presentations, Neil Barrett returned to a physical show as part of Milan’s fashion calendar. He was also “homing in on my core codes,” he said. “Precision, respect and love of fabrics, the obsession for details, and finding solutions for people’s lives through the clothes they wear.”
Barrett started his label in 1999, so he knows a thing or two about minimalism, which was actually the style around which he built his brand. “My take on minimalism has always been rather warm,” he said. However, he’s still fond of the rigorous attention to construction that comes from his family’s tradition in military tailoring. Chez Barrett, the aplomb of the garments, the way they are neatly cut and sharply designed is disciplined and faultless.
Since minimalism is back on the fashion forefront; Barrett is in a good position to sync up his offer with the zeitgeist. The spring collection was a refreshing of his best-ofs; he loosened up the fit of the formal tailoring he favors, making it less strict, modernizing the silhouette with slightly roomier proportions to accommodate different ages and body types. He worked on the collection inspired by some of his friends, “talented people I like and respect,” including an Italian furniture designer, Japanese and Korean architects and the owner of an Italian fabric company.
The humanity of the inspiration filtered into the warm color palette lightened up by pops of saffron yellow, lemon and acid green, and in the elegant functionality of the workwear-inspired boxy uniforms around which the collection pivoted. Barrett, his friends and customers believe in the purposeful nature of well-designed clothing; they aren’t about pyrotechnics. “I’m basically a geek,” he said.