1 Gucci: because this is the show defining what we really wear
No, I’m not winding you up. And, yes, I’m talking about that Gucci show, the one with the orange fur coat with the zebras and the red leather jacket with the pussybow collar. Gucci has changed how we dress. I’ve been watching the off-catwalk fashion – not so much the peacocky Anna Dello Russo stuff as what the fashion footsoldiers wear, which is much more telling – and a key look right now is a midi-length, loose, floral or colourful dress worn with comfortable shoes (trainers, chunky loafers, flatforms).
This look – the fancy-but-not-cocktailish dress worn with practical shoes – is what Gucci looks like when you pare down the pearl trims, the bows, the sparkly sunglasses. Dakota Johnson, Gucci’s poster girl, nailed the look in the front row: long tea dress, chunky loafers, denim jacket. Alessandro Michele is winning at Gucci because he is affecting not just the brand’s bottom line, but what we actually wear.
2 Dolce & Gabbana: in an anti-intellectual age, this is clever fashion
Ice-cream cones, pizzas, Madonnas, spaghetti, olive oil bottles: this is not a subtle or nuanced take on Italian culture. But there is a kind of genius to D&G. While the fashion industry ties itself in knots trying to balance heritage with the zeitgeist and tradition with Snapchat, Dolce & Gabbana has an idiot savant’s instinct for shows with an uncomplicated appeal that leaves the purists breathing its dust.
A T-shirt dress modelled on a tin of tomatoes has all the aesthetic sophistication of a Make America Great Again cap, but that’s exactly the point. This is the year of the anti-intellectual, the year when the experts became the bogeymen. Dolce & Gabbana has a business rooted in skilled craftmanship and expert tailoring – its stores are still full of beautifully tailored suits, and refined cocktail wear – but it has the instinctive emotional intelligence to grasp that, in 2016, the most effective message is the simplest one. Italian food and emoji-level communication: what’s not to love?
3 Versace: athleisure’s legacy for this party season will be the comfortable evening shoe
Donatella Versace and Miuccia Prada are the two polar opposite grande dames of Milan fashion week, so it is a significant moment when the two of them agree on a look. At Versace, the first two models on to the catwalk wore a sporty version of an evening sandal, heeled but with Teva-style wide, velcro-tabbed straps rather than spindly, piano-wire buckled ones. At Prada, medium-heeled evening sandals had sparkle at the front, but the same sporty-utilitarian vibe at the ankle strap.
The athleisure aesthetic does not sit as naturally in Milan as it does in New York, where sporting chic is at the heart of style heritage. (The Italian TV presenter at Versace who complimented Serena Williams on being “so sporty” seemed to sum up the way in which female athleticism is still treated almost as an eccentricity here.) Until recently, this was reflected in catwalks where tracksuit bottoms and go-faster striped collections were worn with wobbly stilettos. But the prime party-season takeout is the long-awaited triumph of the dancefloor sandal over the taxi shoe.
4 Prada: the skirt is back
Anna Wintour pointed to “the appropriation of normal clothing” as a theme of the Milan shows. There were hotel slippers at D&G and anoraks at Versace, but the spiritual home of the elevated-normal will always be Prada. After last season’s sailor hats and corset belts, Prada was back to doing what Prada does best, which is offbeat versions of normal clothes. Key points to note: the skirt – which has been mostly sidelined from recent catwalks in favour of crazy trouser shapes – was very much back here.
This is probably a good commercial move, because a glance around the audience reveals that everyone is still wearing those foil skirts from, like, three seasons ago, so clearly there’s a market for a fancy skirt. Observe, also, the deliberately nausea-inducing colour combination, which is what makes this outfit look fashion and is the reason why the Duchess of Cambridge with her matchy-matchy, tone-on-tone wardrobe never ever looks fashion even when she’s in head-to-toe McQueen or Preen.
5 Fendi: the prime rib is the new cold shoulder
In the afterglow of the July couture show, staged on a glassed-over Trevi fountain, Fendi is a serious fashion force right now. This week’s catwalk show took looks that were hovering on the edges of our vision and pulled them into focus. Knitted sock boots put a pretty spin on a sellout piece from the cult Vetements line; pinafore-shape dresses looked grownup and elegant; handbags boasted the ornate guitar-strap handles that will dominate in 2017. But the central message was in the sweaters – simple and long-sleeved but cropped or slashed to show the lower ribs.
Say goodbye to the cold shoulder, and get ready for the prime rib. This trend is unlikely to have the same mass appeal – the allure of the cold-shoulder being precisely that this is a body part normal women feel confident in revealing, which doesn’t translate to the torso – but the look certainly seemed to make an impression on Fendi front-rower Serena Williams, who sported an ab-flashing sweater for her next fashion week appearance at Versace.
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