When it came to staging her Fall/Winter 2021 show, Alberta Ferretti wasn’t about to play around. This season, the designer that usually shies away from all things unnecessarily flashy and flamboyant was clearly feeling the same nostalgia for the bygone times that many of us are feeling at the moment: that bittersweet wistfulness and hope that we all resume business as usual as soon as circumstances allow.

Thus, the proper runway show — safely videotaped and surprisingly refreshing. Over the past year, a part of the industry started to get used to and become complacent with the way collections are presented and released at the moment; the other part of it, though, decided to forgo the premise of the fashion shows and seasonal collection releases altogether, at least for the time being. Albeit a little old-fashion, this concise way of presenting a runway collection has successfully tapped into the sense of realness and having that first-hand experience of viewing the collection that we haven’t come across since the Fall/Winter 2020 runway season.

“I’m a woman designing for women,” Ferretti told Vogue. “How could I not take their needs into consideration? That said, being realistic doesn’t mean tuning into banality mode.”

Though best known for her immaculate party dresses, this season, Ferretti has taken on an approach more appropriate for the current times and decided to focus on daywear, revisiting classic tropes and adding “something extra to make them special.” Working in a dark palette (black, charcoal and anthracite, with occasional flashes of olive green, robin’s-egg blue and mustard), she sharpened the shoulders of slender city coats, adding ruffles at the back for a surprise. Other comfort-wear items included wrapped shearling coats, blanket capes that were hand-stitched at the hem and pants in many soft-tailored iterations, occasionally layered under slim pleated skirts.

This range was all about the surface treatments — lacquered, sequined, crocheted with silk-ribbon rosettes, all fabrics exhibited elaborate textures, conveying sensuality and tactility while striving to elevate the familiar everyday staples. But for the finale, of course, Ferretti just had to bring back her signature ‘fabulous evening dress’ — this time coming in as a series of dramatic black dresses presented alongside a resplendent golden number dipped in shimmering sequins.

“Feeling beautiful gives you strength,” the designer explained. “As women, we need all the strength we can muster to fight, as we still have so many battles to win.”