Milan Fashion Week S/S 2018 womenswear editor’s picks
Salle Privée: We’ve had a yen for Salle Privée since the wardrobe classics-focused brand was launched by Patrick Munsters last October. The brand unveiled its first opticals line in July, and last weekend Milan Fashion Week witnessed the opening of ‘House No. 8’ – its first Milan showroom at the historic Palazzo Recalcati. Conceived by Sabine Marcelis, the showroom’s ornate interiors is juxtaposed with mirrored panelling and freestanding Plexiglass structures. A blend of the classic and the contemporary, it acts as a reflection of the brand’s approach to design.
The Green Carpet Fashion Awards: On the final evening of Milan Fashion Week, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI), in collaboration with Eco-Age, the support of Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (MISE), and with the patronage of Comune di Milano hosted the first Green Carpet Fashion Awards. Held at La Scala, the star-studded event was an emblem of the Italian fashion industry’s renewed dedication to working with sustainable supply chains and materials. Winners included Taroni – awarded the Sustainable Producer accolade – and Zegna, winner of the Eco Stewardship award. The ultimate crescendo to the evening, and indeed Milan Fashion Week, culminated in the final award of the night: the CNMI Recognition of Sustainability, which was presented to Miuccia Prada, Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, Giorgio Armani and Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, who took the stage together for a final bow. Photography: Stefano Guindani
Agnona: Creative director Simon Holloway took David Hockney’s 1968 American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman) as the starting point to Agnona’s S/S 2018 collection. Imagining that Marcia’s pastel pink kimono boasted an Agnona label, he created a collection inspired by a bright Hockney colour palette, one awash with lavender, raspberry and ultramarine. It signalled a more colourful focus for the house, with breezy silhouettes like kimonos, ponchos and voluminous trousers. The brand is lauded for its exceptional fabrics, and for S/S 2018, Holloway worked with Agnona’s mills to create double face Century cashmere. What else would Marcia be wearing?
Jimmy Choo: The brand sent out a cork coaster-like invitation for its S/S 2018 presentation. Brimming with imaginative textures and finishes, the collection featured cork ankle boots, gladiator sandals with embellished buckles, mules embellished with plastic 3D flowers and turquoise sandals with ankle straps that resembled beaded beach-ready karma bracelets. ‘I wanted to create details that were like jewellery,’ said creative director Sandra Choi. Bring on spring.
Paula Cademartori: The designer presented a series of micro collections for S/S 2018, each hidden behind curtained presentation spaces at Piazza San Fedele. There were buckled shoulder bags with intricate laser-cut lace, romance inspired gladiator sandals with heart shaped buckles, colourful hand bags finished with intricate leather marquetry or embellished with raffia, and strappy rhinestone embellished sandals. We’ll take one of everything.
Marco De Vincenzo: The designer, who was born in the Sicilian city of Messina, took inspiration from his home island for S/S 2018. These were clothes to wear during the carefree exploits of summer, featuring sunset-hued prints, ombré fringing and Lurex. The collection included fish net tops layered underneath shirts, floral detail crop tops, dresses ruffled with tiny mirrors and fun fringed sliders. The designer also printed the words Ultrapharum and Triskelion – the ancient names for Siciliy – onto t-shirts and chunky square handbags- souvenirs we’d like to pick up next summer.
Fontana Milano 1915: As part of its Milan Fashion Week presentation, the luxurious bag label revealed a series of bags in an exclusive crocodile skin. The exotic material has facets of blue, red and green and has been crafted into elegant tote bags, doctors bags and a carry-on case.
Ter et Bantine: Manuela Arcari returned to Milan Fashion Week with an immersive S/S 2018 presentation. The Ter et Bantine space featured two screens flickering with film- one presenting a woman on a painful journey, the other depicting her daughters on a voyage of beauty and self-discovery. Models walked within the presentation space in what Arcari defined as the items of an ‘emotional wardrobe’, including a fifties nightgown, a men’s suit and a pencil skirt.
Loro Piana: The cashmere expert presented its latest collection in a verdant outdoor park on Via Mozart. Guests entered the space to find patterned cashmere scarves hanging from wooden hoops against a backdrop of paper flowers. The collection included new experimentations with lightweight denim, backpacks and small shoulder bags and a new slip on sneaker style.
Sergio Rossi: The luxurious footwear label held its S/S 2018 presentation inside San Paolo Converso, an ornate former Roman Catholic Church. Shoes were positioned on plinths which resembled colourful mounds of sand or the contours of a futuristic planet, and were inspired by Sergio Rossi shapes from the late nineties. There were pointy flat or heeled sandals embellished with oversized gems, metallic mules finished with floral hardware, fluffy slippers and chic flat with bows up to the ankle. Shoes worthy of a religious experience indeed.
Krizia: The brand was inspired by sculptural and cocooning silhouettes, adding extra volume to culottes and mini dresses with swathes of transparent plissé organza. The collection was designed by Antonio D’Anna, under the creative direction of Zhu Chongyun, and for S/S 2018, the duo also reinterpreted the undulating layers of the houses’s signature pleats, using black and white ‘Y’ motif appliqués, designed to emphasise the house’s fancy for folds.
Bally: In its cavernous new 2500 sq m Viale Piave showroom, Bally set up an incredibly detailed presentation inspired by the downtown Manhattan interiors you might have seen in 1980s (complete with a Bally bag poking from a fridge or a monogrammed sock folded over the edge of a bath). The collection too, had an retro edge as the brand has reissued its archive trainer silhouettes, like high tops and tennis pumps.
Gabriele Colangelo: The designer was thinking about Japanese craft techniques for S/S 2018 like nui shibori – an ancient dyeing technique which creates abstract and partly coloured motifs. The modern collection, which used flowing straps and irregular plissé panels as details, featured undulating dresses layered with tailored suits, shirts with utilitarian pockets and collar ties, and chic sleeveless jackets. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Antonio Marras: The brand held its S/S 2018 show in the belly of the Teatro Lirico, an abandoned opera house in the process of renovation. Marras is known for his wonderfully performative shows, and his latest runway bonanza, inspired by Fellini’s 1965 fantasy-comedy Juliet of the Spirits was no exception. An acrobat hung from a flower covered swing above the catwalk as male and female models danced and sashayed down the runway in a cacophony of dusty looks, like gauzy, lingerie revealing dresses, striped suits, floral detail tailoring, embellished denim, silk turbans and straw hats. Encore! Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Furla: The first edition of Fondazione Furla’s art initiative culminated at Fontana Hall with ‘Simone Forti: To Play the Flute’. Furla presented four different performances by the octogenarian Italian choreographer and performer – Huddle, Censor, Sleep Walkers and Cloths. Photography: Masiar Pasquali
Dondup: Designed in-house, the S/S 2018 women’s offering riffed on a downtown LA aesthetic. On display at Dondup’s Villa Della Spiga boutique were grungy shirt dresses in gauzy fabrics, beaded waistcoats and floral slips, military shirts with floral embroidery and sporty marl sweaters, while stompy zip-up biker boots completed the rebellious attitude.
Woolrich: Famed for its invention of the Arctic parka, Alaskan brand Woolrich looked to south of the American border for S/S 2018. Its signature coat was reimagined with colourful Mexico-inspired embroidery, and presented in a desert-like installation.
Rucoline: It was a celebratory Milan Fashion Week for Italian label Rucoline, as the brand celebrated its 30th anniversary. Famed for inventing the heeled trainer – a blend of sporty and feminine chic – the brand updated the style for S/S 2018 with a white leather style embellished with tiny studs, another in shimmering metallic, and a multicoloured version in an Airtex fabric with sequinned ‘R’.
Kiton: The Neapolitan fashion house presented a timeless and luxurious S/S 2018 collection, one which featured 35 variations of blouses, breezy basket weaved jackets, reversible double cashmere coats and pyjama silhouettes. This white collarless tuxedo jacket and matching crepe de chine elastane trouser caught our eye when we went for a closer look at Palazzo Kiton.
Diesel Black Gold: The Italian label offered a closer look at the womenswear pieces presented during its unisex S/S 2018 show in June. A selection of grungy, nineties-inspired looks hung from the ceiling on industrial metal hooks, and included popper-detail slips layered with striped jerseys, long denim dresses and plaid camisoles, finished with lace-up boots.
Giuseppe Zanotti: The footwear extraordinaire played with new prints and embellishments for S/S 2018. Mules, sandals and chic shoulder bags were patterned with fifties polka dots. Elsewhere, the shoemaker reintroduced animal motifs into his designs, embellishing beachside sandals with sequinned tropical fish.
Emilio Pucci: Catering to a jet-set elite, Emilio Pucci set up his first boutique on the island of Capri in the 1950s, a store which became synonymous with colourful and swirling prints. For S/S 2018, the house’s creative team (functioning solo since the departure of Massimo Giorgetti in April) dreamt up a collection for the poolside Pucci girl, one who wears a towelled turban, kitten heels with seaweed-like straps, coral earrings and terry cloth bandeau dress for sunbathing on a lounger with a cocktail.
Brunello Cucinelli: The designer bought a new eclecticism to its aesthetic for S/S 2018, offsetting dark denim with romantic frills, tribal details and corsetry. Cucinelli experimented with ostrich feathers for the first time, and explored tones of amethyst and periwinkle blue. There were elegant suede suits, frothy layered skirts and sporty zip-up hoodies. Menswear fabrics were given a feminine flourish, with checked suits coated in a silver gloss, their fabric interweaves with glittering copper yarn.
CDS Blazé Milano: Corrada Rodriguez D’Acri, Delfina Pinardi and Maria Sole Torlonia are the three women behind CDS Blazé Milano, a label that celebrates the blazer. For S/S 2018, the trio looked to the aesthetic of the late fashion muse Loulou de la Falaise, who designed jewellery for Yves Saint Laurent, and holidayed with the iconic French designer in Marrakech. The ‘Stone Roses’ collection features blazers in exotic colours, textures and prints, embellished with glittering tassels and buttons cut from semi-precious stones.
Herno: The Italian performance wear label presented its latest collection in Herno’s recently opened HQ. Suspended from industrial aluminium hooks, the collection was imagined in shades including vivid orange, saffron yellow and blossom green. Herno debuted water-resistant trench coats, laser-cut reversible outerwear, bouclé down jackets and suede sequinned blazers.
Geox: The Italian footwear label presented a fashion-forward collection for S/S 2018, complete with chunky Aztec print embroidered heels and 3D embellished platforms. We made a step towards these elegant ankle boots, cut from perforated leather and featuring a gently curving heel.
Fratelli Rossetti: The Italian shoe label imagined an adorable fifties hairdressing salon for its S/S 2018 presentation. A trio of models sat reading magazines and waiting for their turn at the hairdryer, wearing cute bow-detail platform shoes. These were a motif of the entire collection, and featured on colourful sliders and brogues dotted on stools throughout the space.
Santoni: Marco Zanini, the former creative director of Schiaparelli, presented his second collection for luxury Italian shoe brand Santoni. The designer offered an edited interpretation of staples like windbreakers silk underwear, and bowling shirts. A navy denim jacket and a puffed sleeve mackintosh were both lined in rusty custom made patchwork silks, hand made basket weave sandals were crafted from colourful strips of leather and bowling shirts, shorts and coats were printed with archival patterns from Lion’s silks mills, including a whimsical world map. At the Palazzo Clerici venue, these pieces were dotted around walls and plinths covered with digital prints of coloured marble. Zanini also presented his second printed book for the brand, a beautiful publication of marbled pages and photographs lensed by Wallpaper* collaborators Hill & Aubrey.
Bulgari: The Italian house hit the decks, setting up a miniature skate part inside its presentation space at the Bulgari Hotel. Crafted in metallic shades, shoulder bags embellished in studs with ‘Forever’ were positioned on skateboards, which slid down striped half-pipes.
Gianvito Rossi: The footwear stalwart was preoccupied with provocative undergarments for S/S 2018, using latex as an upper fabrication and straps inspired by delicate underwear. Elsewhere, the shoemaker imagined elegant mules, slip on flats and stilettos in a variety of hues, finished with circular buckles and grosgrain bows.
Birkenstock: The Birkenstock Box – a freight container pop-up designed by Gonzalez Haase AAS – made its way from Barneys New York to 10 Corso Como in Milan. For the Italian leg of its world tour, the box has been personalised by the artist Kris Rush. In celebration of its collaboration with 10 Corso Como, the brand hosted a cocktail party, where guest mingled among blown-up prints of the doodle-print Birkenstock shoes.
Furla: Renowned for its leather, Furla forged a new fabric-focused path for S/S 2018. Inspired by vintage and Venetian prints, creative director Fabio Fusi created 52 exclusive fabrics, which were translated into bag shapes including shoulder bags. These designs came complete with customisable straps that can be alternated, whether you’re in the mood for something feather-trimmed or something more timeless.
Church’s: The footwear label added the Kelsey Heel sandal to its luxurious roster. The Kelsey – featuring a braided upper and ankle strap – has been reimagined for the new season in a high heel. Our favourite? This interpretation in burgundy leather.
Hogan: The brand presented a collection of sneakers and wedges in an elegant domestic set-up adorned like the home of the ideal Hogan woman, with details including denim flowers, beading, tassels and cork trims.
Weekend Max Mara: The Italian brand collaborated with photographer Micol Sabbadini on a capsule collection called ‘Aegan Sun’. The offering was inspired by a European summer, and featured vistas of white Grecian houses, beautiful blue and white floral prints and collaged photos of pink roses. The collection is made up of easy silhouettes, like shirt dresses, wide legged trousers and tile print scarves.
Elena Ghiselleni: The skilled bag designer – lauded for her creation of the ‘Antigone’ bag during her time at Givenchy – presented her S/S 2018 collection in a verdant presentation space dotted with colourful plinths. We had eyes for long, slouchy shoulder bags in rust and nude suede and this oversized shopper made from an array of denim patches.