Bally: The next generation
It sure doesn’t seem like Brian Atwood is leaving Bally soon. Rumors started circulating early this year that the young designer, who was appointed as creative director of the Swiss shoe and luggage brand almost three years ago, was supposed to be stepping down from his post. But based on his recent visits to China and Singapore, where Bally just opened Asia’s biggest Bally store (as of now) in the newly-launched Ion shopping center along Orchard Road, it sure looks like the brand still wants him for both creative and ambassadorial purposes. Marina Piano, Bally’s head for global communications and a friend who’s known Atwood for 15 years now, also denied the designer’s departure. “He’s currently working on the fall/winter 2010 collection,” she reveals over lunch at Singapore’s National Museum.
Besides, letting go of Atwood would be a shame, considering how much Hollywood cachet he’s brought to the brand. Atwood, whose own shoe label is worn by the likes of Leighton Meester, and who used to date Nate Berkus, better known as Oprah’s sexy interior designer (Atwood and Berkus broke up late last year), is probably Bally’s best bet in injecting a bit of edge into Bally’s classic lines. Good-looking (he’s a former model) and fit (he looks like he actually bench-presses at the gym), Atwood is of that mold that can easily affect dishabille (he can pair tousled, longish hair and a five o’ clock shadow with jeans, sneakers and a rumpled jacket, and still look like he just stepped out of a vat filled with Acca Kappa). Think Tom Ford, only more rugged and younger. (Nicer too, adds a Bally exec that used to work for Gucci.)
Known for creating impossibly high, arch-flattering stilettos for his eponymous brand, and a designer who had his first real taste of fashion design creating clothes for Versace’s diffusion line Versus, Atwood came into the Swiss label, wanting to bring in “the second generation of Bally,” one that had a contemporary appeal to the younger consumer, but at the same time he didn’t want to “alienate the original customer of the brand.” Ideally, New World hip with effortless Swiss style. This second generation does include Hollywood A-listers. Since Atwood came in, it seems like more and more celebs have been spotted in or carrying a Bally: Angelina Jolie, Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz, and Kate Hudson (who Atwood singled out when asked to choose the perfect poster girl for the new generation Bally. “Kate Hudson does a great job wearing Bally in a very modern, cool way.”)
Created in 1851, Bally is one of the oldest luxury brands in the world. Originally founded as a ribbon-making company by Carl Franz Bally in the Swiss hamlet of Schönenwerd, its heritage of shoemaking began when Carl, while visiting Paris, was wowed by a pair of slippers. He bought several styles for his wife, returned to Switzerland, and asked local cobblers to reproduce some pairs for his brand. Not long after, he was opening up factories all over Switzerland and exporting to South America. Forty years after it started, Bally had sales agents all over Europe and were providing shoes for the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Holland’s Queen Beatrice.
Though it may have started out with women’s slippers, Bally eventually gained a reputation as a men’s brand. Bally was the preferred shoe of our fathers and their fathers. It was also the preferred brand of Sir Edmond Hillary when he climbed Mount Everest, and of Neil Armstrong when he first walked on the moon. (Bally provided the rubber components for Armstrong space boots.) This was actually one of the challenges Atwood had to work with when he arrived at Bally. “Despite its large archive of women’s shoes, Bally has always been known as a men’s brand. Taking it from there into something softer and more feminine was the main challenge for me in the beginning.” So, aside from putting a bit more height into the women’s shoes and a bit more slouch into the bags, Atwood put a woman in the forefront of Bally’s ads campaign. For the spring/summer 2009 campaign, the brand’s pixel positioning starred Christy Turlington. The ‘90s supermodel was the first choice to portray the cross-section of the female market Bally wanted to attract. At 39, she is not that young but, with her lithe figure and radiant complexion, is youthful enough to still carry off five-inch heels and a metal-studded tote. She is also without the gloss and drama that seem to tail the catwalk queens of her era. “Christy has that wonderful ease about her,” says Atwood. “You can imagine being at a black tie event with her but at the same time, you can see her sitting on the floor, asking you to tell her about things.”
“Ease” seems to be a keyword in Atwood’s Bally. Also “coolness” and “effortlessness.” You can see it in the fall/winter ’09 collection, showed off in the store opening in Singapore’s Ion Orchard. Here, Atwood takes the Arabian influences of the ‘30s (turbans and gilded lace heels) and mixes it with the most sophisticated elements of the ‘80s (animal prints on full draped jackets, metallic-threaded asymmetric tops, patchwork lace tights). It is sophisticated without being intimidating, sensual rather than sexy. With the suede walls, hardwood oak floors and elegant leather trim that signature Bally’s newest global store concept framing the collection, you really believe that Bally is still out to provide luxury that will remain significant despite the economic recession. Albeit, luxury that is understated — just like the Swiss have always done it.
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Bally in the Philippines is located at Greenbelt, Power Plant Mall, Shangri-La Plaza and Rustan’s Makati, and is distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc.
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