Structured, fitted looks on show
MILAN: Italian fashion house Fendi this week staged a starstudded, size and age inclusive show in Milan, presenting an autumn/winter collection of fitted feminine looks.
Top models Kaia Gerber, Gigi and Bella Hadid were joined on the catwalk by American plussize model Paloma Elsesser and models and mothers Carolyn Murphy (45) and Mariacarla Boscono (39).
The presentation was held a year and one day after the death of the brand’s veteran designer Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld joined the Romebased brand in 1965 and formed a creative duo with the founding family’s scion Silvia Venturini Fendi.
Venturini Fendi’s vision for next season included leather jackets with structured shoulders and cinched waists. Long dresses and coats came with puffed voluminous sleeves and belts.
The colour palette was muted with occasional splashes of yellow.
Milan Fashion Week is the third leg of the monthlong catwalk season that began in New York and also includes London and Paris. Prada celebrated the ‘‘pluralism and complexities of female identities’’ at its autumn/ winter show in Milan, with designs ranging from strict tailoring to fringed and sequinned dresses.
As models zigzagged through archways and piazzas on a set in the grand hall of the Fondazione Prada Milan, cinched waists created feminine hourglass silhouettes while flower motifs and fringes decorated straighter styles.
Colours included bold, bright reds, greens, yellows and purples, but also black and dark greys. Pastelcoloured Wellington boots were paired with puffer jackets and pencil skirts.
Sportswear was also introduced for the everyday but glammed up for an updated look that challenged its utilitarian purpose.
In show notes creative director Miuccia Prada, who runs the company with husband Patrizio Bertelli, said she wanted to champion and challenge typical definitions of femininity — softness, fragility and sensuality — and give her multidimensional women ‘‘tools of glamour’’ and ‘‘uniforms of beauty’’.