Blumarine took us under the sea

Religious iconography, silver studs, utilitarian details, and rosettes. All of the above can be found, existing in harmony, on Blumarine’s SS2023 runway. The brand, a High Fashion Twitter favorite, had an underwater theme for their showing at Milan Fashion Week. Nicola Brognano, creative director at Blumarine, took inspiration from The Little Mermaid, the classic Disney movie that he was obsessed with as a child. He took the film’s bold use of color and love for all things aquatic to construct this collection’s sexy and languid ensembles.

Naturally, we were treated to beautiful shades of blues, but Brognano made the bold and brilliant choice of including muted grays, romantic pinks, and a truly daring hue of red. This collection also took inspiration from the ever-popular Y2K trend with an abundance of low-rise denim jeans, flowy slip sleeves, cargo pants, and teasing peeks of the midsection.

My favorite piece from the collection is a blue knit dress with wavy hems – which remind you of a jellyfish. The dress’s cups are knitted as well with intricate boning and are in the shape of seashells! The model’s waistline is accented with a pair of belts – belts can be found beautifully placed throughout this collection – one a bejeweled “Blumarine” and the other made of small, metal seashells.

We can only hope that Halle Bailey pulls from this stunning collection for the premiere of Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, in which she plays Ariel. The movie is set to hit theaters this spring!