Behind SS25
Introducing
A "Behind The Collection" Look at SS25 With Ellie
Waving goodbye to the winter blues and welcoming sunnier days can only mean one thing -- new, Spring/Summer seasonal drops are on their way. While we love the unique outwear and romantic color schemes that the FW season brings, we are always glad to make the shift to brighter palettes, warm weather, and the final countdown before Italian summer by the water kicks off.
BENE's SS25 Collection embodies the balance of bringing back classic, summer favorites -- while still debuting so many new pairings for the first time. In short, SS25 might be the best-planned season yet, and there's so many exciting things to come in the line.
Ellie says:
"Designing the SS25 collection was an especially fun project. I started making the final decisions for this collection back in September during my trip to Milan. It's always fun to see what's being debuted during the various Fashion Weeks around the world and what the forecasted trends are for that season.
Summer for me typically means spending time with family in Santa Maria di Castellabate. So I always feel especially inspired by the "La Dolce Vita" lifestyle that I am surrounded by each summer, but I am especially excited about the trends debuting for this Spring/Summer season.
"I feel like people are especially open to breaking out of their shell and celebrating pieces in their wardrobe that feel uniquely like 'them.'"
The BENE customer has never been afraid of being themselves and making a statement, but looking at fashion as a whole, I feel like people are less worried about having one, specific 'it' bag of that specific season. I think that style-wise, we are taking a step back towards finding pieces that express individuality. It's not just about keeping up with the viral, luxury trends anymore. Instead, it's more important to find pieces that strike the balance between being unique + having longevity in your wardrobe.
"Evergreen" pieces don't just have to look like the stereotypical neutrals that are seen as a "safe investment." I LOVE selling color. Don't get me wrong, a neutral bag has its place, but I'm also a firm believer that if there is a piece that you truly love, you will continually find a way to incorporate it into your rotation; it doesn't have to just be for special occasions. It's a running joke that I don't love producing black -- because my clients already have black bags in their wardrobe. BENE was created to be fun and colorful! Hence why you see the introduction of so many new colors and combos each season. I always love pushing the envelope and finding new ways to incorporate pops of color in the line.
A staple SS25 element in my own wardrobe is raffia. It's the perfect material to use for any occasion -- whether that's to accompany you to a summer wedding, to dinner with friends, to a beach club for the day, or just to the grocery store. My most-used bags last summer were definitely my raffia Stafford and Byrd!
It was no question that raffia would be included throughout the SS25 collection. I've sourced the same raffia that many luxury houses also use, and it just looks beautiful when used in every style that I pair it with. We have some really exciting pieces expected to drop throughout the season that our customers have never seen before, and I'm so excited to get to finally share what we've been working on + sampling for over a year.
Additionally, I remember sitting with my team in Milan and working through the colorways to include on the final list for the season. We took a careful look at what our customers had loved the most in 2024, and this heavily influenced our decisions in what we would bring back and what we would test out for this year's new drops. The possibilities are endless, so it's always tough to make those final decisions, but we were really happy with the designs that we made in the end.
Our trip to the studio in September to go through this finalized list was a celebration of sorts! It even called for champagne at aperitivo afterwards and a last-minute dinner reservation at a Michelin-star restaurant. I'm personally swooning over so many of the pieces in this collection and will no doubt be adding them into my personal rotation this year.
It's been so hard to keep everything a secret up until this point, but I am so excited that we can finally share these exciting drops with our customers. It fills me with so much joy when people share how they're wearing their BENE bags with me, and it gives me inspiration on how to style my own collection! I can't wait to see the reactions on this season's bags and to know what the crowd favorites are -- and we usually know this pretty quickly because so many favorites sell out fast. With so much fun in store for this season, we are all going to be emulating that La Dolce Vita lifestyle!"
