The BALLY Spring/Summer 2025 Collection, "Counterpoint 3"
Circling the 16th-century cloisters of the Chiostro di San Simpliciano in Milan, the BALLY Spring / Summer 2025 collection “Counterpoint 3” by creative director Simone Bellotti harks back to the origins of the Dada artistic movement in Zurich a century ago. A playful collage of attitudes and personas takes shape, revisiting BALLY’s heritage with an irreverent energy. An artistic current abounds, as symbols from our collective consciousness are reshuffled and deconstructed between natural and artificial, historic and modern concerns. Decorum and rigour are subverted by avant-garde action and thought-provoking creations imprinted with both fragility and desire.
A concave steel habit worn by the poet Hugo Ball informs the cocooning silhouette, framing the décolleté with an operatic volume. From this defiant gesture, a wardrobe revolves around the petal-like folds of a ruffled peplum, a rounded sleeve, and the scrunched and moulded drape of taffeta or silk gazar. Sculptural tailoring is cut in dry summer twill and fine BALLY leathers that nip the waist or fall towards the knee in sober lines. Bright technical outerwear fuses protection with sartorial ease, folded bell skirts and gossamer dresses recall spring mountain flora, and faded rose prints blossom on fine cashmere knits and Watteau-back tops. Codes are questioned in a Dadaist approach to dressing, twisting archetypes in a layered language of clothes at play.
For Spring / Summer 2025, a new anthology of BALLY footwear styles synthesises pillars of the House archive in architectural and ornamental forms. Building on strong foundations of Swiss craftsmanship and style, a new Glendale rises on a slim pedestal heel, the lace-up Scribe is elevated on a block heel, and platform T-strap sandals are edged in fine metalwork. Brogued derbies and cut-out Mary Jane brogues are studded with bright saddlery studs, and slotted sandals are framed in punk spikes. The Beckett satchel appears oversized in supple glossy leathers, as trapeze and bell-shaped doctor’s bags pop in the season’s alpine floral palette with topstitched details. Engraved belt buckles and handbag straps are modelled after an antique hammered shoe horn, joining acorns, bells, and mushrooms like whimsical souvenirs scattered throughout.
Editor’s Notes:
The Swiss recording artist Aisha Devi has created a bespoke soundtrack for the BALLY Spring / Summer 2025 runway show in a direct response to the collection’s artistic call. “Dadaism bypassed the normative cognitive process in order to enable a mode of creation rooted in the subconscious,” says Devi. “I designed this soundtrack with the intention of generating an alternate state of consciousness and of activating the Dadaist electrical imagination.”
The spirit of the BALLY Spring / Summer 2025 collection is immortalised in the collectible BALLY Zine Number 2 illustrated by the Swiss artist Beni Bischof. Inspired by the etymology of Dada - from the Romanian word for ‘rocking horse’ - Bischof’s naive watercolours, poetry, and paper cut-outs form a scrapbook that nods to the avant-garde movement with humour and wit.
SHOW CREDITS:
Creative Director: Simone Bellotti
Production: Villa Eugenie
Sound Design pre-show by Leo Mas – Original Show track by Aisha Devi
Stylist: Charlotte Collet
Casting: Ben Grimes
Make-up: Lucia Pica
Hair: Anthony Turner
ABOUT BALLY
Bally is a Swiss luxury brand established in 1851, with a rich heritage in shoemaking, and a longstanding relationship to architecture, arts, and the environment. Today, the brand offers unique designs across shoes, accessories, and ready-to-wear, driven by a dedication to craftsmanship and a contemporary aesthetic.
In the Philippines, BALLY is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc., and is located at Rustan’s Makati, Shangri-La Plaza, City of Dreams, Power Plant Mall, and Newport Mall. Visit ssilife.com.ph or follow @ssilifeph on Instagram for more information.
About SSI Group, Inc.:
The SSI Group is the Philippines’ largest specialty retailer, with an established brand portfolio that includes some of the world’s most recognized international brands. We lead the country’s specialty retail market through the size and breadth of our brand portfolio and store network, with 94 brands and 593 stores. With our growing e-commerce presence, we are also the Philippine specialty retailer with the most diverse and extensive e-commerce offering. Our unique brand portfolio covers a wide range of specialty and lifestyle concepts, spanning the luxury, casual, and fast fashion, beauty, footwear, home, and restaurant categories. Established in the 1980s, SSI has been at the forefront of the Philippine retail industry for more than 30 years. Throughout this time, we have sought to inspire and enhance the lifestyle values of our customers and to cater to the evolving tastes and aspirations of Filipino consumers. In response to the evolution of the retail industry, the company introduced "The Specialist," an At Home concierge service dedicated to serving its valued customers with their shopping needs. Customers may get in touch with SSI’s Customer Service team through any of the following channels to inquire about a particular brand or product:
SSI GROUP CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM
Email: customerservice@ssigroup.com.ph
Telephone Number: 8-830-5000
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