Dada Done Different in Bally SS25 (EXCLUSIVE)
Bally, under the creative direction of Simone Bellotti, has returned to its Swiss-by-way-of-Italy roots. Pure elegance, baby. So that Bally's Spring/Summer 2025 collection is inspired by Dada, one of the most avant of all avant-garde art movements, may seem a little left-field.
But Bellotti makes it work.
Dada, born in the early 20th century, was a fascinating rejection of artistic norms led by artists like Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp ("Duchamp is my lawyer," Virgil Abloh once memorably quipped).
Duchamp, especially, is a key figure in the movement, whose Fountain readymade was a pivotal moment that eventually made way for modern art. A simple truism unlocked the door for Warhol and all the rest: Put a urinal on a pedestal and you're bound to get a reaction.
This anti-establishmentarian attitude applied to Bally, though? How?
Bellotti's Dadaist homage is more spiritual than literal. Like how dada deconstructed staid art world inclinations, Bally SS25 is a righteous reframing of familiar wardrobe codes.
See the ultra-nipped waists of leather coats, the ballooning hips of metallic skirts. Note the heightened hems of harringtons, the familiar undershirt rendered in cotton mesh. Knitted sweaters are stretched into tunics while sculptural dresses and leather vests ride high.
This is a more urbane approach to dada, one that retains Bally's luxury inclinations.
The SS25 "wardrobe revolves around the petal-like folds of a ruffled peplum, a rounded sleeve, and the scrunched and molded drape of taffeta or silk gazar," said Bally in its press release. "Codes are questioned in a Dadaist approach to dressing, twisting archetypes in a layered language of clothes at play."
It's a dadaist approach, not pure dadaism. And it's perhaps best manifested by gentle twists to Bally's signature shoes. This is a fashion house founded on footwear, after all.
Spikes and studs, as if borrowed from an anarchist's battle jacket, jut from elegant leather sandals and derbies in a playfully aggressive subversion of craft.
Soft meets hard. Smart went crazy. But crazy like a fox.
