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- [Insert Fashion Here] Vol.1, Issue 7 | Milan fashion week surprises, what to expect from Paris
[Insert Fashion Here] Vol.1, Issue 7 | Milan fashion week surprises, what to expect from Paris
Modupe Oloruntoba
September 23, 2019
Hi Friends! It was a busy week for me, and then it wasn't. I lost sleep juggling projects, but once I submitted a very exciting piece(!) I basically went on holiday (Netflix) for a few days. I checked out of everything, including fashion month (until JLo broke the internet again) and spent some of Sunday and this morning catching up and writing this. Busy week ahead, for me and for Paris. Let's look at Milan Fashion Week!
Camera Moda | Ferragamo, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramAh, Milan — the story can't be all legacy, all heritage, all craft, all the time. The upending of Gucci a few years ago provided some fresh air (who remembers what it looked like before Michele?!) but the thing about newness is, it gets old so fast. I think they knew that, because this season held a few surprises. [Links are to Tag-Walk & Vogue Runway.]
Camera Moda | Prada, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramPRADA| According to Miuccia herself (in the show notes), "It is, fundamentally, a collection about the power of women over clothing, and of style over fashion" — a wonderful thought. But I feel left behind by Prada SS20. This woman is beyond me somehow, in a way that's more abstract than age. She's not an unattainable image, one whose shoes you'll never be cool or sophisticated enough to fill. It's closer to the feeling of a friend growing in a different direction, their changing interests and lifestyle making it harder to relate. I say this with 99% sincerity and 1% cheek: I don't know her. But I look at her jackets and her dresses and that thing she has going on with what seem to be painted pieces of uncut leather(?) held up by black ribbon, and I think I might want to. Maria Bobila @ Fashionista had a good take.
Camera Moda | Versace, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramVERSACE| In the last newsletter, I said I hoped Versace's special event wasn't all show and no fashion. Then the JLo Jungle Print moment happened.
This Vogue video does a great job of telling that magic moment's story, the impact of the combination of the right person at the right time in the right dress. Beyond its remembrance, there was fashion in SS20, but I don't feel one way or the other about most of it. Everything was washed in the golden light of a golden moment, so it doesn't matter that there were clothes: The show is all anyone cared about. It could be argued that they tried quite a few new things this season, but one celebratory collection doesn't change the overall feeling of sameness I associate with Versace.
I understand and agree that entertainment and fashion are over-exploiting their archives (hey Disney, catch your sub), but I don't think we should throw the whole notion of nostalgia away. A moment like this one is one of very few when fashion's cultural impact is on full display for people who don't follow it. Maybe the US and Europe don't need that anymore, but I know we do. Our industry needs our emerging markets to care about fashion in some capacity and moments like that, with the nostalgia they carry and visibility they have, serve that purpose. [I'd love to see a collection at SAFW inspired by Boomshaka's performance wardrobe, or a retrospective of the real thing in the Zeitz MOCAA costume institute, but that's a chat for another day.]
Camera Moda | Moschino, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramMOSCHINO| I always feel weird about Moschino. It usually hits the OTT Italian spot the way it should. Thing is, I have hardly ever enjoyed Jeremy Scott. Different brands, teams, and house codes, yes, but the same CD at the end of the day. I guess that's a testament to his ability to keep the visions clear and separate? This month in particular they felt worlds apart. This deconstructed 3D Picasso situation? Perfect for Moschino, and so well executed in familiar Trompe L'oeil style.
Camera Moda | Ferragamo, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramJIL SANDER| If it's possible for something to be very interesting but not exciting, Jil Sander was. Maybe I'm being reductive and responding to the palette like a child; it isn't as colourful as it once was or as I expect from a summer collection. I am really enjoying the layers though (something Sander was once almost too minimal for) as well as the evolved silhouette variations, but — and I say this as someone whose wardrobe is 70% black — the colours seemed to drag it down.
Camera Moda | Max Mara, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramMAX MARA| Excuse me, but was Max Mara kind of fun this season? A brand I associate with perfect camel coats and serious silhouettes went the way of Thom Browne with this season's suiting: cheeky proportions and barely there pastels. There was a casual utilitarianism that danced a line between city and safari, but ultimately stuck with the concrete. Those large hanging pockets were not my thing at all, but overall I think it worked.
Camera Moda | Vivetta, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramVIVETTA| Can a collection be too wearable? As a pragmatist my autopilot answer is no, but maybe it can when wonder is your identity. Vivetta has that magical quality of being both whimsical and grounded (Like a more balanced Delpozo), and this season the whimsy seems either dialled down, or present but insincere; I can't tell which yet. Still beautiful, but I expected something else from, say, a foray into denim.
Camera Moda | Gucci, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramGUCCI| To summarise: They had us in the first half, I ain't gon' lie. The first few looks came out and I thought, wow, he's flipped the table again! Alas, it was a mere palate cleanser before we moved on to more familiar territory. It was newness, but not the table-flipping kind. It was the Gucci we know and love, trimmed and pruned. Cleaner, fresher, a minimal-leaning step away from retro toward retrofuture.
And here, more of the newness I was looking for, across emerging and established brands. Other than that I think they are beautiful, I don't have much to say about these collections - too little time to consider them, and the word count on this is already pretty wild.
Iceberg|Marco De Vincenzo|Ermanno Scervino|Salvatore Ferragamo|Missoni|Etro|Sportmax|Fendi|Bottega Veneta|Marchesa (yep, they show in Milan now - showroom presentation, no runway.)
Camera Moda | Fashion Hub Market, Milan Fashion Week | InstagramOther Milan appearances included Laduma Ngxokolo, Thebe Magugu and Sindiso Khumalo at theFashion Hub Market hosted by Milan Fashion Week, in a special section curated to display African designers.
Reading list:
Vanessa Friedman on Prada's critical praise and market disappointments
A beautiful backstage photo diary by Corey Tenold
To Paris
Paris Fashion Week | InstagramWe're in for a long final stretch: If you count the opening evening, Paris Fashion Week is a whole 9 days long! Contemporary ready to wear is my favourite category and while New York does it best, it feels grander in Paris. Accessible, within reach, and still big and shiny. Paris also has the most potential for legacy revivals, across ready to wear and couture. It's already started, with Roseberry at Schiaparelli, a match I hope sticks because they get on like a house on fire.
Paris Fashion Week | InstagramParis seems to be working at its newness problem, which was worse than Milan's a few seasons ago. I don't protest the absence of newness out of boredom. New names often represent industry growth, and an industry that is making room for that growth in its investment and attitudes. Anrealage shows tomorrow; the brand was a 2019 LVMH Prize finalist along with Thebe & Kenneth. Y/Project, which I consider one of the last remaining diffusion lines, not new but not established either and still very much riding the credibility of its founder, shows on Thursday.
Much like Milan, I expect the smaller brands will struggle for coverage, competing with whatever stunt Off-White™️ has planned (Virgil is on sick leave but promised a "crowd participation element") or with the cultural appropriation headlines that I hope and pray we don't get. We've made it 3/4 of the way through a season without them, so Paris, don't let us down!
Marques Almeida | Paris Fashion Week | InstagramGiambattista Valli: Will he stick with the thread of the H&M collection he's already previewed, using this show as well-timed promo (November isn't far away) or will this collection have nothing to do with that one? [Other questions: Will I be able to afford a princess dress and a men's embellished jacket from the collab? Will they look good on me or will they break my heart in the dressing room like the grey Erdem blazer did?]
Apparently Telfar's turn at NYFW was just a teaser for a bigger show in Paris, one that does not appear to be on the official schedule at the moment but I'm sure will garner attention and attendance anyway. Thom Browne is always lightly theatrical; should be fun. I'm also looking forward to the Belgians and their thought-provoking consistency: Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten.
Paris Fashion Week | InstagramThis season marks Stella McCartney's first show under LVMH! Let's see how it differs. Or doesn't?
We've seen Virginie Viard's take on Chanel couture, and I am VERY excited to see her take on ready to wear - this will be her first presentation of the category as Creative Director.
All eyes are on Demna's Balenciaga now that he's left Vetements and Balenciaga is growing faster than Gucci (they both belong to Kering).
That is all. Whew. Marathon's almost over! Some cool projects have come my way this month and I'm very excited to share them, but only from November so keep your eyes peeled. PS, Edgars and Zara both went online in South Africa this week - bought anything cute? Tell me! Thanks for reading, and have a happy Heritage day tomorrow!