Milan Fashion Week A/W 2016 womenswear editor’s picks
Tod’s: The brand delighted its guests with a pre-show Vanessa Beecroft art performance, featuring models donning stapled leather wears
Bulgari: The jeweller’s rich A/W 2016 accessory presentation was awash with vibrant colours, patterns and luxurious snake and croc textures
Dusan: Working in oversized proportions for A/W 2016, Dusan’s timeless tailoring hits another high note
Sara Battaglia: A pop-up photo studio provided the backdrop for Sara Battaglia’s latest handbag collection
Bally: The Swiss brand delivered a graphic A/W collection punched up with juicy colours, cool design and just a touch of feminine whimsy
Calvin Klein Jeans: A day in the park with the rebels of Calvin Klein Jeans
Bertoni: This season Bertoni showed us a free-spirited collection to celebrate the brand’s supreme craftsmanship. Leather covered studs and hand painted paisley prints give its classic styles a modern twist
Larusmiani: The Italian tailoring brand held a discreet presentation for its luxurious womenswear inside its showroom featuring Flexform furniture
La Perla: Pedro Lourenço brought La Perla to new architectural heights this season. The newly appointed designer was inspired by the work of Oscar Niemeyer who’s curvaceous forms, to come full circle, are inspired by the female body
Álvaro: The wonderful world of Álvaro sandals got a jolt this season with its first ever heels
Kiton: The Italian tailoring brand gives you just what you’d expect when visiting Kiton: the best. The finest cashmere, beautiful handwork and smart prints inspired by their ties. Because who said perfection and fun don’t go hand in hand?
Antonio Marras: The Sardinian piled his usual, dark romanticism with layers of artful collages this season bringing new life to rich furs and luxurious embroideries. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Alberto Guardiani: Boys Boys Boys! Alberto Guardiani hands us disco on a silver platter
Jimmy Choo: This season Jimmy Choo showed us a military inspired theme for powerful women
Rossella Jardini: Former Moschino creative director Rossella Jardini launched her namesake collection this season in Milan with a presentation at the Grand Hotel et de Milan
Giuseppe Zanotti: Some of our favourite snow shoes came not from a hiking company but from the king of sexy footwear Giuseppe Zanotti this winter season
Tatras: Italian Japanese label Tatras designed by Sakai San has been around for a decade but this was its first ever women’s presentation. The silk fabric here, made in Kyoto, is used for Japanese emperors
Iceberg: Arthur Arbesser’s second collection at the helm of Iceberg was a bold move; geometric prints and bright primary colours ahoy. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Herno: Italy’s best kept secret when it comes to handmade coats, Herno was originally founded in 1948 and continues to produce perfectly crafted traditional outerwear
Etro: Paisley seating, paisley carpet and paisley press pack at – where else? Veronica Etro mined London’s 1990s underground for her fall collection that glimmered with rich embroideries but that was tugged firmly down to ground with velvet lined combat boots, great looking military outerwear and plaid coats. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Elena Ghisellini: the talented Italian accessories designer has pulled it out of the bag yet again, this season with a graphic line of boxy It bags
Woolwich: This season Woolwich launched a new project named the Archive Collection. The capsule collection brought back patterns and styles from the original mill in Pennsyvania
Sergio Rossi: The shoe master takes us back to the glamorous nights of the roaring 20’s with glittering Mary Jane’s and classic D’Orsay pumps just begging to dance the night away
Blazé Milano: Masculine and feminine silhouettes are merged to shine a new light on the iconic blazer in ‘Slip Liquors Slowly’, Blazé Milano’s new collection. New this season is the introduction of leopard print and the ‘Great Coat Blazer’
Dusan: The serene interior of Dusan’s Milanese showroom matches the designer’s stealth luxury clothing
Agnona: The Italian label looked to its rich archive for inspiration, pulling out relaxed silhouettes in soft pastel and neutral hues for a rather graceful collection
Sansovino 6: American born Milan-based designer Edward Buchanan managed to disrupt the usual ho-hom activity of Milan’s big fashion brands with an electric performance staged at the Balera Di Porta Venezia, an old dance hall near the city’s train station where we’ve also held our Toiletpaper x Wallpaper* Salone parties. Buchanan has run his Sansovino knitwear line for almost a decade now but he’s never held a formal presentation for the press. His debut effort was a knock-out that involved culling a crop of his talented associates to create an infectious party atmosphere filled with live music and great dancing… Photography: Zelinda Zanichelli
Sansovino 6: ‘I just wanted it to be fun,’ Buchanan said of the mid-afternoon merry making, ‘and I wanted to work with my friends.’ To that effect he imported two singers and six live musicians from Paris and Italy and a band of happy, groovy models who danced away to smooth moves choreographed by Stephen Galloway. Buchanan’s other good friend Stefano Pilati, most recently the creative director of Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, advised on styling the layered looks that featured Buchanan’s signature muted, but mindful cool knitwear. As journalists, editors and weary buyers, began tapping their toes Buchanan’s show quickly materialised into the liveliest, most positive proceeding we’ve seen in Milan or any fashion capital for that matter in quite some time. Photography: Zelinda Zanichelli
Paula Cademartori: The accessory designer is shaping up to be one of Milan’s strongest contenders for a young designer with a real business. Her handbags have now exploded into a full range of footwear
Attico: Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini, two Italian women with brilliant personal style have launched Attico, a new Milan-based fashion label rooted in the luxurious leisure wear of home robes
Costume National: A blanket of well-placed pieces of plastic junk created by Sicilian artist Catena Sanalitro greeted guests at the Costume National show
Brian Atwood: The shoe designer’s Art Deco inflected collection fit in perfectly with the rich interiors of Milan’s Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
Krizia: One of Italy’s first ready-to-wear brands, Krizia returned this season with a sophisticated yet powerful collection that included 16 looks for 16 women who live in the real world. Crisp pleats, pure forms and elongated silhouettes in different textures such as satin, weathered wool and enhanced jacquard rounded out the somewhat sculptural A/W offering
Furla: Lighting maestro Thierry Dreyfus once again collaborated with Furla on a hyper hued set that pulsed with a rainbow of coloured light
Valextra: Following on from the accessory house’s A/W 2016 men’s presentation, Valextra has once again enlisted the curatorial skills of fashion critic Alexander Fury and the graphic eye of British illustrator Clym Evernden for its Milan presentation. Click to watch Evernden’s charming illustrative teaser, which captures the bold lines of the latest women’s collection
Valextra: In the showroom black is back at the house of Valextra where traditionally bright colours were swapped for a sober and very suitable autumnal palette
Hogan: The brand’s ‘Club Generation’ collection tapped back into Hogan’s Eighties roots with a graphic collection that paired their signature sneakers with tailored tuxedos and biker jackets with platform derby shoes or ankle boots
Giannico: Nicolò Beretta, one of Milan’s baby shoe designers under the label Giannico, was directly inspired by make-up this season. Those colourful dots are homages to small pots of eyeshadow
Rossignol: This season marks the first collection of the newly created Rossignol Apparel line. The team worked with the original Rossignol colours of red, white and blue, adding camel and forest green to the mix that included puffy parkas, fluffy fleece and modern knits for both on and off piste
Santoni: Menswear flawlessly meets womenswear in a terrific new footwear collection by Santoni
Max Mara: A wallpapered backdrop that fused all matter of optical effects, patterns, textures and even monogramming, branded up Max Mara’s scaffolded A/W 2016 set. Photography: Antonio Camera
LaDoubleJ Pop Up shop: Our Milan editor JJ Martin opened her first pop-up store this season. ’It’s a mix of vintage items as well as special design pieces I curated from the WallpaperSTORE*’, she says of mad clash of table top, jewellery and clothing. The industrial bookshelf installation, featuring vintage prints from the Mantero silk archive used as the patterned background, was designed by Milan based architect Luca Cipelletti and will be a permanent fixture inside the LaDoubleJ.com headquarters. Photography: Mattia Iotti
Casadei: The shoe brand mined the sexy 1970s for a collection that offered women every option of footwear including a set of purple suede platform pumps with fringe front detail