On Thursday March 4th, the elegant Loft Sevigne in Paris was taken over by kick-boxing poets from the future. There, some serious training was going on: a line of sports fiends in draped gear came in running through the white space, jogging, stretching, shouting. In an army-like line, they began, one after the next, to kick into punching balls each bearing a different letter, set up throughout the loft.
Every time this happened, the letter appeared on the screen of a computer nearby, connected to each ball, composing chance poetry. Like Dada art gone 2.0, the new collection of Bless is surely there to bring us divinatory messages in code language, from Mars, the Matrix or 2050.
This is Bless’s new nomad. Last season, the German brand acted out its identity through esoteric stretching and escalading in a cement mortuary (Le 104), calmly watching life go by whilst doing acrobatics.  This time, the clock is ticking, and the gang is training for a mysterious battle.
The Bless nomad is all grown up. Whilst bands and brands seem seem to be emanating rock n’roll Indians (from Amazing Baby to Pamela Love), Bless is maturing : the clothes are equally as elaborate, but visually pared down.
Forget the bling and 3D of last season. Instead they are offering a few bold colours in one-on-one combinations : an improbable brown and red, or grey on more grey.
As for the cuts, Antwerpian layering is still there, but less new rave : the male models are sporting died double denim suits matched with white trainers ; the girls are in discreet fringes and elaborate knotting, woolen sock-like shoes in ice-cream tints, and small bits of naked legs.
Prints haven’t disappeared: Bless’s classical 3D is still there, but taking a stance back. Instead of being the star of the show like last season, it is discreetly poking out of a shirt, and looks more like soaked silk than rave attire. In short, casual looks sophisticated and vice-versa: denim looks like a suit, layers look like fancy running equipment.
Don’t miss out on the head scarf, which is fit for riding a camel through the desert. Here is the world according to Bless: knits, knots and punching balls.

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