Designers set a striking tone for fall in Milan
Sex positivity and skin one day, modesty the next. Female power and designers with diverse backgrounds throughout. Here are some highlights from Milan Fashion Week, a week of previews of mostly womenswear collections for next fall and winter, which concluded on Sunday.
Diesel
Glenn Martens is promoting sex positivity with his new collection for denim-centric brand Diesel.
Models walked around a mound of 200,000 Durex condom boxes, underlining a safesex message but also a capsule collection with the condom brand that is set to drop in April.
Denim drove the collection previewed in Milan, which had a furtive, run-for-cover feel and included garments that were torn, distressed, shredded, and seemingly torched. The treatments speak to survival, making it through some scrapes and living to tell the tale.
Denim was interspersed with sheer panels, some in risque positions, worn with fading Diesel T-shirts. On the feminine side, there were slinky, silken looks fastened with sexy chains. On the masculine, there were oversized hoodies, or a well-worn gray pinstripe jacket and trousers, permanently showing their creases. This season’s motto could be: Wear-and-tear included.
Emporio Armani
Models circling the Emporio Armani runway actually smiled, not the usual runway look. But then it is not every day that a lighthearted, funinfused collection invites them to do so.
Small bowler hats seemed to set the almost vaudevillian mood of the collection, which was underlined by asymmetrically buttoned jackets, organza skirts in multitoned layers and big disco-ball sequined cocktail dresses catching the light and attention. The jocularity all came through in sheer blouses with bright rounded collars, tiny bags hanging off straps and ribboned necklines accenting velvet suits.
Jil Sander
Designers Luke and Lucie Meier helped get the frenetic fashion crowd into a receptive state for their latest Jil Sander collection with some calming music before their runway show.
The collection spoke through silhouettes, opening with some leather looks in color blocks seemingly inspired by motorsports, with the brand name heat printed in raised letters, and closing with hourglass shaped dresses and jackets. The pair turned out gracefully layered looks with tops and tunics over trousers,
and offered seasonal motifs of cherries and wrapped peppermints, which appeared on garments as photo prints. Signature pendants finished the looks.
Dolce & Gabbana
The negligee is coming out of the bedroom next season at Dolce & Gabbana, where sheer and lace lingerie looks set the tone during a season when nude dressing is one of the hottest trends on the Milan runway.
Not to worry, for those who are not ready to go that far, lacy corset tops also become a wonderful element in a suit.
Almost never have the designers created such a clear progression: from the seduction of black lingerie with herring bone or feathery details to a all-white looks, including one sheer that might be fit for a very nontraditional wedding.
An audible gasp went through the crowd for a goldstudded dress with a metallic corset. Ashley Graham stunned in a ruched red dress that swathed her form.