The N.21 lookbook was shot at night on the empty streets of a deserted Milan. “I love the city’s old buildings with their imposing entryways and front doors, and its eerie nocturnal atmosphere,” designer Alessandro Dell’Acqua said. But the new collection wasn’t intended for late-night parties or after-hours adventures. Quite the opposite. Dell’Acqua is a quiet contrarian, and resort is centered on the quotidian-with-a-twist look he does so well.

At a showroom appointment, the racks overflowed with neoprene-bonded Fair Isle cotton sweatshirts paired with ankle-grazing light wool skirts, sequined pencil skirts styled with sporty striped polos, and pale brocatelle skirt suits whose bourgeois vibe was upset by worn-in denim shirts. Dell’Acqua explained that he wanted to “go back to basics,” b

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