Bianca Balti Maternity launches in Milan

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 24, 2018

Now that’s what we call sustainable. Bianca Balti, the Italian model known worldwide for her L’Oreal and Dolce & Gabbana campaigns, launched her debut collection on Sunday; a 60s-inspired maternity line, with a novel concept. Everything is made from stock fabrics.

“That way we are using what already exists. Left over material from designers. Like our beautiful blue silk velvet dress, made from seven rolls we found. It’s the reverse process of most designers. We work with what we can get,” explained Balti.
 
Based in Los Angeles, she produces everything in the City of Angels. Named 'Bianca Balti Maternity', the model and now entrepreneur launched her collection at a brunch in Lu Bar, a charming new bar in the Galeria d’Arte Moderna in Milan.

Light flooded into the 18th-century orangery onto a selection of dresses that were forgivingly cut without the overly billowing silhouette that one associates with maternity wear. Buttoned up pink smocks; black and white velvet shirt-dresses and a big-buttoned suit in almost Chanel-worthy pink tweed.
 
“I am spoiled with my campaigns, which gave me the time to create this collection,” added Balti, who once famously modelled in a 2015 Dolce & Gabbana show when eight months pregnant.

The mother of two daughters Matilda, 12, and Mia, 3, Balti was born in Lodi, 20 kilometres south of Milan.
 
“I am a very simple girl who wears jeans and t-shirt, but when I was first pregnant I had to attend Cannes as I had a part in a movie (Abel Ferrara’s 'Go Go Tales'). And I could not find anything special to wear, something nice for an event or a dinner. So my idea is a luxurious collection that you can also wear after you stop being pregnant,” she explained.
 
Her inspiration was Jane Birken and Grace Kelly and the timeless style from the Sixties with its short lengths.
 
“So if you wear leggings with my dresses they become tops. Or you can wear them with bloomers like me,” laughs Balti, who lives in a “very old tree house that is falling apart” in Laurel Canyon. In effect, the collection mixes Italian elegance, and LA rocker, seeing as all the rock stars live in Laurel Canyon
 
“I have to walk up three flights to get in, which is how I keep in shape carrying my three-year-old and a bag of groceries up the three flights,” concluded 34-year-old Balti, with her famous big grin.