Designers play to their strengths at Milan Men’s Fashion Week

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A model walks the Fendi runway at the brand’s fashion show during Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2023 © Getty Images

During Milan Spring/Summer 2023 menswear week, we were invited to some designer homes, more or less. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons created a minimal paper house with cutout windows, erected on Prada’s giant art foundation; Donatella Versace opened the doors of the brand’s headquarters, a baroque palazzo in the center of Milan originally bought by her brother, the brand’s founder, Gianni; Zegna carried the fashion package two hours outside of Milan to her historic mill in Piedmont at the foot of the Alps.

Half a dozen other Milanese designers proposed similar notions for a season of shows that, with most masks eschewed and audience numbers nearing pre-pandemic levels albeit without press or buyer representation from major Asian markets, will they felt like the first Milan menswear week to get back on track. instead of a “new normal”.

So the homecoming seemed even stranger, as if the designers were collectively experiencing a group Stockholm syndrome, longing for the WFH lockdowns and lockdowns of the last two years, even though coming home really meant going back to what they were. what they did better. The Milan shows rarely spoke with a unified voice, instead allowing brands to discuss their own distinct territories, to play to their strengths.

A male model walks down a runway in a stripped-back blazer and baggy pants, holding a Grecian-style vase.

Versace staged its fashion show at the company’s headquarters in Milan. . . © Carlo Scarpato/SGP

A model, hands in pockets, walks down the runway wearing black pants and a black and red shirt adorned with the image of a bearded face.

. . . and recruited the children of his favorite 90s supermodels, like Carla Bruni’s son, Aurélien Enthoven © Carlo Scarpato/SGP

One model wears a dark gray suit; behind him another model wears an open tunic with white shorts underneath

Dolce & Gabbana scoured their archives, with suits inspired by the ’90s. . © Monica Feudi

A model wears distressed jeans and a black and gold embellished jacket over a white shirt.

. . . and distressed denim paired with richly embellished jackets © Monica Feudi

Loud was the word, for example, for Versace’s vision, where models clutched gilt vases from the brand’s range of homewares as they wandered down a cluttered catwalk like thieves trying to outrun foolish security. The clothes, in cheerful colors, baroque prints and many prints with the Versace logo, seemed designed with a new generation in mind. Versace employed the children of his favorite 1990s supermodels, such as Mark Vanderloo and Helena Christensen, to model the label’s scaled-down version of a 1991 theatrical mask print.

If Versace hinted at the past, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana basically borrowed Marty McFly’s DeLorean to dive into his back catalog and slowly reissue a bunch of looks spanning the past 30 years. It was a relief that, after a few seasons clinging to strange and passing tendencies, they headed home and found their heart. It was also a testament to the variety of his work, from home-knit garments to the dazzling combination of bedazzled crystal-encrusted shirts and distressed jeans that were a throwback to the unapologetic sass of the early 2000s. a mid-1990s suit that, wide at the shoulders, cinched at the waist and slim through the legs, made everything old suddenly seem new.

From time travel to globetrotting. The latter was a theme from Silvia Venturini Fendi’s menswear collection under her name, but oddly enough the results were homey and really cool, with wide-cut shirts, moccasin slippers and flared, frayed bits of denim – that fabric was a of the few trends. popping up everywhere in Milan. “Denim to me represents freedom,” Fendi said backstage, and her styles included not only the real thing but also hyper-luxury knockoffs. If you want a mink coat printed to look like a denim jacket, Fendi is your choice. There was a tourist vibe, but the idea seemed to be a homecoming, bringing souvenirs, which here included many of the brand’s best-selling bags, as well as jewelry such as found stones wrapped in gold. After a few seasons of formality, this was Fendi in a more carefree and relaxed way. She felt more real.

A man models a denim jacket with jeans and a bucket hat.

At Fendi, creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi focused on denim. . . © Aldo Castoldi

A male model wears denim shorts, a patterned top, and a hat.

. . . for a relaxed and holiday-inspired collection © Aldo Castoldi

A man in a yellow tabard suit and boots.

For his Milan debut, Jonathan Anderson continued to play with surreal motifs. . .

A man models jeans. He is bare-chested with a red and black blouse draped over his shoulders, below which are bicycle handlebars.

. . including attaching bike handles to sweaters

Was there much real in Jonathan Anderson’s debut in Milan? This collection played more with the surreal assemblages that he has been exploring for a few seasons. While some designers in Milan seem desperate for Gen Z, Anderson seems to truly and innately understand their way of thinking. And what they want is to be noticed, and he’s not going to get by in a beige suit. This collection was exciting, perhaps memorable, with bike handles and soup can lids embedded in sweaters, and a model dressed as a giant loofah. But it was also memorable, which is more than half the work in a crowded landscape.

A male model in gray wide leg pants and short sleeve printed shirt

Giorgio Armani sent many classic staples down the runway. . .

Male model wearing blue pants and matching blouse and carrying a large bag. . . in a polished palette of navy and gray

A man models a bright yellow suit.

Zegna creative director Alessandro Sartori used hints of fluoro-limoncello for his suit. . . © Filippo Fior/Gorunway.comA man models wide beige pants and pink jacket.. . . and innovative knits in softer shades like pink and beige © Filippo Fior/Gorunway.com

Children don’t seem to matter at all to the patrician Giorgio Armani, whose fashion is innately personal. This season’s clothing was Armani at home: deeply tanned models, walking in navy and gray without a single pair of socks between them. At last, Mr. Armani, tanned, sans socks, and dressed in navy blue, bowed.

The most powerful collections in Milan this season, Prada and Zegna, both addressed the same notion, the reinvention of the familiar, to different ends. “A kind of normality” was what Zegna’s creative director, Alessandro Sartori, was looking for, but he was also thinking of “the future of tailoring”. That meant using innovative knit fabrics, some heat-pressed for laminating or fluffing into technical terry cloth that resembled bouclé wool, or leaving details in raw linen and cotton tailoring, despite their fiercely traditional backed innards. canvas. While tailoring softened, sportswear hardened into hyper-luxe dupioni silk. It was that contradictory interplay that gave this collection its pop, along with weird colors like a fluoro-limoncello or a dusty chocolate gray that looked like anything else.

A man models a brown plaid coat over an orange shirt and shorts.

At Prada, gingham pea coats were layered on top of each other. . . © Monica FeudiA man models a black leather coat over a blue and white shirt and black shorts.. . . and often paired with leather shorts © Monica Feudi

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons wanted to keep things simple. “The collection is about simplicity as a concept, as a choice,” Prada declared before the show. Simons backed her up: “We’re attracted to the idea of ​​’normal’ clothing.” Here the normal seemed new, with clean-cut beige or gingham caban coats layered on top of each other and then often over leather tank tops and shorts. Here was something of the notion of curated design, the recontextualization of items to change their impact: a coat can look a bit kinky over bare legs and shorts.

It had a big impact on fashion as a show, with models walking in cowboy boots with pointed toes that seemed to be the next season’s footwear. And the fact that the coats made plenty of the fashion press and shoppers crave them even in a 19C Milanese summer. 35 is a display of genius. Everyone in the room wanted to take home at least one, which is the whole point of these shows, after all.

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Source: www.ft.com