Fashion noir, with a frill
Eva Herzigova wears a voluminous black ball gown on the catwalk for Dolce & Gabbana in Milan as part of a cast of supermodels and actresses: the 45-year-old was joined by Carla Bruni, Monica Bellucci, Isabella Rossellini and Helena Christensen
Two of the world’s biggest fashion houses went head-to-head in Milan yesterday and brought their heavy artillery into play. Giorgio Armani had Patrick Schwarzenegger and Cate Blanchett, the face of its perfumes and frequent Armani wearer, on its front row (and Robbie Williams performing in a huge hangar at Linate airport a few nights earlier after the show for the Emporio Armani diffusion line). Meanwhile Dolce & Gabbana had Carla Bruni, Monica Bellucci, Ashley Graham, Isabella Rossellini and her family and Helena Christensen on its catwalk – plus around 150 other models, many of them clients and friends of the designers.
The audience at the Dolce show was almost as extravagantly dressed as those on the catwalk. One Chinese woman, in a majolica print Dolce & Gabbana fitted sundress, paraded along the front row before the show began with her small son and daughter dressed in gold Dolce & Gabbana sequins. A man and woman turned up in matching red brocade trouser suits. And there were giant-brimmed veil hats, tiaras and floor-length jewelled ball gowns.
With everyone watching this compelling show it has to keep remapping its boundaries. This one began with the most chic funeral cortege imaginable: cue scores of women in sexy mourning. Perhaps they were lamenting the demise of Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram account. A highly active, unfiltered Instagrammer, he has recently forsworn social media. “It’s become toxic,” he said. “I prefer to watch Orange is the New Black.”
Yes, orange is the new black, according to this show, but so are cobalt, emerald, daffodil and red. Entitled DNA, the collection featured all the brand’s signature silhouettes, prints and aesthetics, from ultra vampy to androgynous tailoring. Kitsch abounded in the form of butterfly-winged sunglasses and shoes with plastic grass on the inside (Gwyneth Paltrow, a keen proponent of walking “on the earth”, might want to stock these on Goop) to bouncysoled trainers (a category which now accounts for 70 per cent of the brand’s footwear sales). Alongside is a commitment to Italian craft: handcrocheted lace trims, exquisite internal chiffon corsetry and one three-piece trouser suit composed of hand-finished tulle petals.
Using 160 models meant the designers could push their manifesto for Everywoman: curvy, silver-haired, ingénue, small. While other designers dip in and out of this pool, Dolce & Gabbana are happy in the deep end.
Giorgio Armani had a mere 73 models in his main show but he too has got the memo about colour (head-to-toe greys, sapphire and pink) as well as the note about trainers: his were composed of latticework crystals mounted onto inflated soles. Active performance is not their main function. But they lent a relaxed sportiness to his phosphorescent red-carpet dresses. In fact, athleticism was the main message of a collection brimming with luxe casual separates, including silvery lightweight parkas (a key item next spring), slouchy trousers and stretch zip jackets. Armani single-handedly defined a genre of nonchalant glamour three decades ago but he’s still tweaking it.
Other new touches included gauzy top layers and a sheer Perspex coating that added a futuristic-meets-mermaid touch to skirts and dresses. They sound strange but imagine Cate Blanchett in them and you’ll see why Armani still scores big on Oscar night.
‘Orange is the new black, according to this show, but so are cobalt, red, emerald and daffodil’