Whether you’re fortunate enough to see a runway collection in person or you’re viewing from online, the details that lie beyond the first glance can only be described by the brand first-hand. In this case, we got to speak with Ingo Wilts, Chief Brand Officer for HUGO BOSS Group, about the details behind the BOSS Fall/Winter 2020 runway show and collection, set inside a lavender-filled room at Social Music City in Milan.

The “Generations” Inspiration

“The inspiration for the collection came from the past. We looked at our heritage and what we’ve done—the campaigns of the 1970’s and 1980’s where we worked with Michael Flinn and we had all of these oversized coats. This was really the inspiration, together with fashion references from the 1920’s with all the fringe—we combined these and came up with the BOSS Fall/Winter 2020 collection.”

The Colour “Heather”

“We looked into a colour, which is a little more unexpected for us. Typically, we’re seen as a brand that uses black, grey, and navy. We wanted something that is totally unexpected. “Heather” in general will fit very well with our other products. You can wear it with grey, you can wear it with navy—this was the idea behind it, we wanted something complimentary.”

Show Location

“I wanted something very emotional for the location and for the music. I wanted people to come and take it in. Outside, we have so much drama in the world—I wanted people to come here and take these ten minutes of beauty and think about themselves while seeing a beautiful collection passing by. The orchestra added to the emotional aspect. We’re in a very rough time in the world—I wanted something soft and warm.”

Collection Details

“For me, it wasn’t that we didn’t have a lot of prints in the collection—it was more about technique. The print was inspired by zebra print, but I didn’t want zebra because BOSS is not animal print. I wanted a pattern so we manipulated the zebra and made bigger and smaller changes, and then we came up with the stitching technique. This was all made in Germany.”

A New Heritage

“In the 1920’s when women were super feminine with fringe, the men dressed up with tailoring, I wanted to bring this idea to the women while also bringing the women new ideas. Beautiful blazers with beautiful tailored skirts, everything always very body conscious—I think this is the new idea of our tailoring. Tailoring is our heritage. “