Great euphoria
Milan was actually in a celebratory mood: the mega brands Bottega Veneta and Gucci, who had recently shown their collections out of sequence because of Corona, are back on the calendar; sales of Italian brands like Brunello Cucinelli are through the roof, the Prada store on Via Montenapoleone is jam-packed. Incidentally, part of the deal is to accommodate as many stars as possible from the teenage series “Euphoria”: Chloe Cherry walked the catwalk at Blumarine, Hunter Schafer at Prada, heartthrob Jacob Elordi came as a guest to Bottega Veneta. This was followed by tumultuous crowds and a screaming chase through the Milanese night. Everything (almost) as before.
Actress Chloe Cherry walked the catwalk at Blumarine.
(Photo: giovanni_giannoni_photo)
But on the second day of fashion week, war breaks out in Ukraine. Street style poses and outfits aren’t a good look there. What to do? The luxury group Kering and designers like Alessandro Michele posted solidarity Instagram posts, passers-by held up posters in front of Versace and Prada, and the topic was avoided as much as possible within the fashion bubble. So the Russian editors continued to sit in the front row, and Vena Brykalin from the Ukrainian one Vogue was placed a bit further away from them than usual. As he said, the journalist would have liked some kind of statement from the companies – and by that he didn’t mean the strangely omnipresent balaclavas on the catwalks. Of course, the ignorance didn’t surprise him. “That’s the business.” After all, on Sunday, the last day of fashion week, Giorgio Armani dedicated his show to the Ukrainians, which took place without any music – as a sign of respect.
Puristic classic: White tank top at Prada.
(Photo: Monica Feudi)
Again new
We remember: “New Bottega” rose like a meteor in 2019 with the English designer Daniel Lee. His arrogance, however, obviously goes along with it, at least they parted ways in November “by mutual agreement,” as the saying goes. Saturday night the promoted Matthieu Blazy showed his first collection of the “New New Bottega”. The Paris-born Belgian is no stranger, having studied at Maison Margiela and Calvin Klein, but of course there’s a heavy load of expectations on him here. As a teaser, the 37-year-old published a video with a scrap press, so the guests sat down on crushed metal blocks in the gutted Palazzo San Fedele. Flatten a metaphor for everything? Radical new beginning? In fact, the opposite is the case: Blazy wants to further compress the essence of the leather house, he lowers the volume of his predecessor, but increases the craft again.
The new New Bottega, here with wide swinging skirts.
(Photo: Filippo Fior)
The first surprising look was a simple white tank top (also a big trend at Prada) paired with jeans, which, if you let them in, aren’t really jeans at all, but incredibly realistically printed nubuck leather. Even the striped shirt dresses: actually nubuck. Some silhouettes still seem a bit too wanted, one could have done without sequins and feathers. For this, leather skirts with a substructure of leather tassels look spectacular in motion. The bread-and-butter business of the brand is of course still the accessories. The typical braided pattern can be seen more often here, in rough boots, in white slippers, a luxury version of the common hotel slippers, so to speak. The “Kalimaro” bag is thrown loosely back over the shoulder with a single long strap like a quiver. Even the bags with golden, branch-like handles can go into series production. Clearly relieved, Blazy accepted the congratulations from his buddy Raf Simons backstage. “Simple and strong” is his approach, he explained. Then just keep going strong.
Wrapped up warm: At Etro, things get cozy.
(Photo: Alberto Maddaloni)
Heat up well
The world’s largest trend agency WGSN predicts a lot of thick wool and layering for next winter in the home office with its own counter due to the rising energy prices. Sounds logical, but there is hardly anything to be seen on the Milan catwalks. On the other hand, who needs to turn down the heating at home when they can spend 1,500 euros on a Loropiana shirt? Like last season, it remains sexy and body-hugging. At Missoni and Etro, a coat is now pulled over the midriff look, at Versace latex leggings are worn under the dresses with corsage details. “Kink” is also a big topic: Dolce & Gabbana, as usual, sent suspenders as an invitation to the show. At Blumarine, garters are worn as belts, at Roberto Cavalli and Del Core various harnesses are strapped on. Skirts are either ultra-short or sheer like Prada and Kim Jones for Fendi. If that’s too drafty for you: Inspired by the Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Max Mara showed fairly airtight wool ensembles including a wool cap and hut shoe overknees.
Layer upon layer: Tod’s has perfectly tailored shirts, suits and coats.
(Photo: Tod’s)
cutting art
And what do those who have to go to the office for a change wear? Sneakers and jogging pants are hardly an issue with the luxury brands, but there is a lot of tailoring. Walter Chiapponi presented his best collection to date for Tod’s, featuring perfectly tailored suits and coats, but also cocooning parkas and laid-back knitwear. For example, skirts with a folded waistband and matching short sweaters. Gucci’s women’s collection was mostly a men’s collection in disguise with mostly male cuts. Fendi put corsets with a saddle flap on one side around the torso of the models. Actually a good idea if the models hadn’t been so skinny. “Diversity” is sometimes just a trend, obviously. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons showed blazers and coats with strong shoulders, unfortunately also with decorated sleeves as with the men, which inevitably takes on something orangutan-like. Dolce & Gabbana even think pumping up the tops to quarterback proportions is a good idea. Sometimes only the shoulder pads can be seen, the rest is transparent and glittering. The designers call it “retro futurism”. You could also say: the past without a future.
Stripes on coats, suits, gloves – and even on a ball gown: Gucci is cooperating with Adidas.
(Photo: Gregoire Avenel)
cultivated polygamy
Milan without a Gucci show has been a bit like the World Cup without Italy in recent seasons. Too little drama, Grandezza. Alessandro Michele is back with “Metamorfosis” and transformed the show space into a distorted hall of mirrors. The “magic mirror” as a symbol for clothing that can change people and allow different perspectives. In fact, with his flamboyant Gucci, Michele always manages to deliver designs that, depending on the combination, can look very crazy or extremely distinguished. This time, however, he focuses the transformational power on the redesign of three famous strips: Gucci presented a truly exhaustive collaboration with Adidas. The stripes can be found on suits, heels, corsets, gloves, even a ball gown (He was inspired by a 1983 picture of Madonna, Michele said, wearing a long red dress with stripes). Before anyone gets confused: Yes, there is actually a cooperation between Adidas and Prada. No, that’s obviously no longer a problem.
Back in town: Kim Kardashian in a “boiler suit” from Prada’s men’s collection.
(Photo: Pietro S. D’Aprano/Getty Images for Prada)
Just like Kim Kardashian is the face of Balenciaga right now but front row at Prada. Everyone can now with everyone, the main thing is that it draws attention. The KK wore a so-called “boiler suit” from the men’s collection, unfortunately it didn’t look really “hot”, maybe next time she’ll wear women’s clothes again. Meanwhile, Gucci was joined by Rihanna, of course with a bare baby bump, and father-to-be Travis Scott. So Milan just came up with the two biggest female stars on the planet right now.
High, higher, Versace: This summer, women are stepping into platform sandals again.
(Photo: Versace)
Aim high
Platform sandals are a big trend this summer, in winter the level has to be at least brick high again after Bottega Veneta, Versace and Ports 1961. Standing above things: good! But even many models couldn’t walk properly in it. Because if the heels are not ultra high, they are at least cut off at an angle. At Marni, on the other hand, the models wore rubber bikers and spiked shoes. The designer Francesco Risso likes to take his shows where it hurts anyway: this time in a dark industrial hall overgrown with bushes. No catwalk, no seating arrangement, the fashion crowd completely disoriented. Where are they running? And how the hell are you supposed to take good photos for Instagram here?
Models suddenly emerged from the undergrowth, illuminated by an attendant with a flashlight. One can’t help but think Risso is making fun of the industry a bit with his performances. Last season, he assigned a look to almost every editor, turning them into puppets for the fashion show. In any case, he always has a message: “Wearafter”, the title of the collection, as he later explained, is about how fragile and at the same time precious our clothes are. That traces and continuous mending tell stories that become more and more a part of us. His “performers”, as he calls the models, brought their own accessories and parts with them, and the designs were developed on this basis. Risso himself was wearing his grandfather’s short smoking jacket, totally frayed, underneath a long-sleeved sweater he had knitted himself. A mix of old and new that is constantly changing. Outside in the courtyard, a mixture of picnic and banquet with cake, salumi platters, fruit and wine awaited performers and guests in bright sunshine. Marni has long been more of a community than a label.