The Milan men's fashion week, which since last Friday has shown the collections for next fall, has been partially marked by the health crisis;
Some relevant firms, such as Giorgio Armani or JW Anderson, have canceled or postponed their in-person fashion shows, but the general feeling has been of a certain normality.
Also of consolidation of ideas that, suggested by the context that emerged after the outbreak of the pandemic, have ended up taking root in the language of firms.
On Sunday afternoon, the Prada show boasted the clarity of ideas and continuity that have so far characterized the collections co-signed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Actors Kyle McLachlan and Jeff Goldblum respectively opened and closed a parade structured around work clothes, declined in luxurious materials such as technical silk. Several of its silhouettes, like its belted trench coats with wide shoulders or voluminous sleeves, are already instant classics of the season, as are the fur or fur pieces that, by way of elbow-length sleeves or oversized piping, scale at the bottom, reflect Prada's talent for setting trends through effective gestures, memorable and always wrapped in an atmosphere of strangeness.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana also up the ante. Its menswear collection for next fall embraces the multiplicity of audiences and territories where the brand has a presence, and offers a vast repertoire of garments dominated by graffiti prints and the hedonistic color that has always characterized the brand. In the press conference prior to the parade, the designers declared their desire to keep the attention of the Zeta generation with designs, colors and images that are so
pregnant
and versatile like a TikTok video. "Young people use fashion differently, but their motivation remains the same as when we started: to express themselves," explained Dolce and Gabbana. The oversized sunglasses have a double reading: they refer to virtual reality devices that anticipate the metaverse, or they propose to bring ski clothing to urban fashion. The parade, starring rapper Machine Gun Kelly – and his fiancee, actress Megan Fox, from the front row – was also accompanied by a declaration of intent. Dolce&Gabbana has stopped using natural furs - mink, fox and other fur materials - in its collections to replace them with
Prada
from different origins. However, the designers have wanted their usual furriers to be the ones who make them in order to preserve an artisanal trade in danger of extinction. The garments resulting from this strategy are monumental coats that, in a nod to the collections that made Dolce&Gabbana famous in the 1990s, contrasted with tight-fitting undergarments. You have to evolve, but without losing your own identity.
Fendi, Dolce&Gabbana and Etro designs at Milan Fashion Week in January 2022.
Twins Dan and Dean Caten, the brains behind Dsquared2, turned their show into a celebration of the transformative power of travel, which is embodied in outfits where everything goes with everything: sequins with puffer jackets, jeans with prints, knitwear with the tailor shop His collection proposes an evolution with respect to that of previous seasons, but without breaking the bank: his unbeatable jeans or his use of tartan in a grunge key, one of his recent successes, are there to prove it. Traveler is also the life itinerary of Kean Etro, artistic director of the collections of the firm that bears his surname. However, after several exotic-themed collections conceived almost as escapism exercises in times of pandemic, her collection for next fall is an inner or intellectual journey.Presented at the headquarters of the Bocconi University of Milan and preceded by invitations in the form of
exlibris
of books from the legendary Adelphi collection by Roberto Calasso, the parade delved into the keys to university clothing, with sports touches and a very successful selection of knitwear.
At Fendi, the return to the origins is embodied in a more restrained color scheme and a more classic and sartorial line than what he had been practicing lately. The tones are the classics of the Roman house —earth, beige, black, burgundy—, but his repertoire of cuts is more serene. Faced with the sporting and urban euphoria of recent years, Silvia Venturini Fendi takes a change of direction in the direction of a nostalgic elegance that, however, does not discard recent discoveries. This is demonstrated by his large trench coats, his suits with straight shoulders and soft shapes, and his precise use of anagrams. The most prominent print of the season is called Fendi O'Lock and it is not a purely typographic logo, but rather a motif reminiscent of a chain link pattern.
At Zegna, artistic director Alessandro Sartori pointed out several innovations on Friday. To begin with, the unification of the different lines previously existing in a single brand, Zegna. On the other, a simplification of the nomenclatures: from now on, all the garments in the collection will be divided into three single categories, with garments for the upper and lower part of the body, and light garments for the interior. In his new suit, the jacket, shirt and trousers are made of the same fabric in different weights and thicknesses. In addition, all the garments are available in different colors that can be combined with each other and, according to Sartori in a meeting prior to the parade, they can also be combined throughout the different seasons. Hybrid was also the format chosen to present it:a short film shot in Oasi Zegna, the company's nature reserve, and a technical presentation where Sartori explained the peculiarities of the garments to a small group of press.
The firm Tod's, the spearhead of the Della Valle family business group, also chose video as the presentation format. The imposing landscapes of Turin and the renovated Castello di Rivoli provide continuity to garments that celebrate the hues of nature. Footwear, the star product of the house, becomes more flexible and combinable, and reduces its color palette in an exercise in landscaping.
The care for the materials and the love for the roots, a
recurring leitmotiv
in
many of the collections, also articulates the proposals of Federico Cina and Luca Magliano, two of the youngest and most emerging additions to the Milanese fashion week. Cina is from the Romagna region, and her evocation of the popular dances of Ravenna in the 1970s is also an inquiry into her own childhood in the 1990s. The secondary tones —mauve, turquoise, gray— added retro echoes to a collection where knitted garments with vintage patterns, textures and motifs stand out. The emotional wardrobe is also defended by the always interesting Magliano, fond of a kind of very evocative dirty realism. His collection, presented along with various
performances
in Arci Belleza, an associative space in the south of Milan, he abounds in the melancholy of materials —corduroy, broadcloth, knit—, reflects on the crisis of masculinity and proposes garments that seem lived in, full of memories and wounds.
