When he began thinking about this pre-collection, Stefano Gallici decided to engineer a couple of shifts. Firstly, he wanted this narrative to track as a kind of teaser for his upcoming Paris Fashion Week show. Secondly, he was looking to bridge past and present while also saying goodbye to whatever needed to be left behind.

“It’s sort of a farewell with gratitude and a good spirit, not resentment,” he explained somewhat cryptically in a video call from the Milan studio.

Drawing on private nostalgia, the designer said he filtered the feels through his own magpie nature as a relentless collector of clothes and objects — lately, it’s been 2000s-era rock-chick bohemia and evening attire from a century ago. He also tapped cultural touchstones like Picnic at Hanging Rock and East of Eden.

“The James Dean film was shot in the 1950s, but when you watch it, you realize it’s telling a story about the first years of the 21st century,” he offered. “That was a baseline for my references and aesthetic because I like the clean, sharp look and the idea of things collected in your travels.”

Small-town USA came through loud and clear in aviator jackets and a varsity jacket emblazoned “Farewell Ballad.” Dean’s iconic red jacket from his other 1955 classic, Rebel Without a Cause, found a new iteration as a workwear number, shown here over a pale floral jacquard shirt. Wistful-looking lace, gauzy cotton, light poplin, or washed-out floral prints paired romantically with yellow-faded denims and a crisp Prince of Wales or Hussar jacket. Masculine silhouettes and suiting fabrics, such as a pinstriped vest festooned with watch chains, nodded to the 1920s.

Lines were cleaner, slimmer, and less slouchy than in recent seasons, from double-breasted jackets to nicely cut flares. A glossy, cropped leather biker jacket looked polished with wide, inverted-pleat trousers. A few riffs on evening tailoring, like a breezy tuxedo shirt and a layered, draped “almost DIY” cummerbund, eased things up a notch or two. Statement pieces like a shell pink jacket and a black Edwardian-inspired slip dress with a plunging back landed nicely.

The idea, the designer noted, was to invite the Ann Demeulemeester client to play with adding something new to old wardrobe favorites. That customer probably doesn’t need any more slouchy knits and won’t necessarily want to wear a tagline like “Down to East of Eden.” Going for continuity while also teasing the next step is no small challenge. The exercise wasn’t groundbreaking, but it did deliver some cool looks.