Milan &amp; Paris FW review

Fashionistas around the world must be enjoying the hangover of the
last two weeks of fashion-induced drunkenness. While certainly there
were some major trends going on (as previously seen in the Anglo
countries), there were two characteristics that made the last two
weeks particularly special: top-notch quality and unmatchable design.

On the Italian side, fashion houses were all about quality and
designing for an older crowd, they overlooked the young birds and aimed
for seducing middle-aged women with their well-thought, more
conservative and obviously more expensive collections. It was also a
retrospective moment for the Italians; an opportunity to reflect on
their strengths and maximize them for their respective shows. Such
was the case of Miuccia Prada, who went through her repertory and
brought back all the elements that the brand had mastered throughout
all the years. While an evident retro feeling overtones the whole
collection (as if she was watching way too much Mad Men lately), it
was ultimately her ability to amalgamate periods and concepts, what
made this collection a future view on the past. In Miuccia’s own
words – “It’s just simple clothes” – said on a carefree manner.
And while certainly there’s nothing as deliberately carelessly-thought
in the universe of Prada, it did, in fact feel, and to a certain
degree, look, like “normal clothes”.

But this “gioia di vivere” was not as an excuse for lack of
craftsmanship, quite the opposite. When Dolce & Gabbana presented
their collection a video featured the designers working at their
atelier. It emphasized not only the quality but the detailing that
goes on each garment. Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Fendi and everyone
else were equally determined to praise the superior craftsmanship of
the Italian houses.

North of the Alps things were different; while the Italians rose the
bar on quality to separate themselves from the overflowing of cheap
and poorly made knockoffs, the French bet on the complexity of their
design skills to avoid being copied. A memorable runway was the Alexander
McQueen one, the last designed by Lee. It was ultimately royal and
almost stepping in the borderline of couture. Even though the label
will prevail, the absence of Lee will be highly noticed, and I’m
wondering who will step on his shoes? Who will have the strength not
only to be at the head of the label, but under the shadow left by Lee.

Things aside, and on a lighter tone, I loved Louis Vuitton,
specifically Marc Jacobs’ tongue-in-cheek entire collection to lure
straight men (not to wear the clothes of course) but if you see the
pictures, you will get it, I’m pretty sure when the time for the ad
campaign comes, they will pull a nice and surprising one (I’m
thinking Salma Hayek).

Aside for a bunch of Minimalistic design, there were some good damn
things in Paris, specifically Balenciaga. Nicolas Ghesquière is a
genius; who else would combine such materials, elements and references
and have such stunning results. It was futurism meets couture, a
sci-fi poem if you will. Balmain, who gave a U-turn from their summer
military fedora collection and returned to rock glam with splashes of
baroque; imagine Louis XIV meets 70′s David Bowie kind of thing.
Lanvin was also remarkable; if you thought tribal was gone, you were
wrong, but if you’re gonna resurrect a recent trend you better be damn
good at it, an achievement that only Alber Elbaz could accomplish. His
minimalistic but highly ornamented clothes were a rave to the eyes; a
high tempo drums beat for fashion hungry ears.

And then, of course, this is Paris, so tuning down things is not
really their thing, right? So, Karl, who else, brought in some
damn real icebergs and mounted a fantastic show at the Grand Palais, I have
to admit, I got the giggles when the first models came out in Ewok &
Chewbacca costumes, but after that the show developed from fur galore
to the most exquisite and couture-ish designs. But the true, showman
award must go to Viktor & Rolf, they’re the equivalent of Lady GaGa in
the fashion world, wait… isn’t Lady GaGa part of the fashion world?,
never mind. V&R pulled the most dynamic of all collections and a true
show by itself, both designers took the stage with veteran model
Kristen McMenamy wearing the entire collection on herself, and then,
the designers proceed to remove pice by pice to then transform and style on-stage the
rest of the models, once McMenamy was stripped they proceed to repeat
the process backwards, again wearing each piece differently, a truly
fashion transformer.

Ou la la, that’s all ladies and gents, au revoir, ciao ciao. be happy,
be fabulous, keep shopping, the fashion world needs you.