After years full of spectacular fashion shows with a certain amount of sensationalism that was originally reserved for haute couture, this season’s Milan Fashion Week offered a now rare insight into what once represented ready-to-wear collections: fashion from the catwalk could go to the store.
A reserved debut puts the “product” in focus
Anticipation and marketing drowned out Sabato De Sarno’s debut show for Gucci, which ultimately made a name for itself thanks to its wearability, which was unusual for the Italian luxury brand. While De Sarno’s predecessor Alessandro Michele enchanted the fashion world with elaborate productions and a dose of magic, De Sarno’s “Ancora” collection, which was intended to make people want to buy Gucci again, focused more on the product than on a visionary idea and a spectacular one catwalk show.
Find out more about the Gucci debut here:
The planned performance on the streets of Milan was literally canceled due to the weather and so the Florentine luxury fashion house had no choice but to bring the show to the dry “Gucci Hub”, the brand’s Milan headquarters. Still, the question remains whether the mix of everyday looks, rhinestone-studded tops and bras, and platform loafers presented in front of a star-studded front row would have brought a little more coherence in its original location.
At Gucci there seemed to be references not only to its own brand archive, but also to the archives of the biggest brands of previous seasons, which not only received rave reviews but also achieved corresponding sales figures. The extent to which De Sarno’s highly commercial performance is actually successful will only become clear when the collection hits stores next year. However, it cannot be denied that it is not difficult to imagine the Gucci sweatshirts, mini skirts and coats on hangers in the stores and on numerous customers.
However, Gucci was by no means the only brand at Milan Fashion Week that looked to the past for the upcoming spring/summer season. Donatella Versace went back to 1995 and returned with a ’60s collection inspired by her brother Gianni Versace and ’90s supermodel Claudia Schiffer, while designer Peter Hawkings paid homage to his time at Gucci in his Tom Ford debut.
Despite their seemingly shared penchant for nostalgia and commerce, designers in Milan continue to take radically different paths.
Raves and eccentricity for Gen Z customers
Diesel – seemingly a perennial outlier led by designer Glenn Martens – invited some 6,000 guests to a techno rave in the pouring rain. Because of the excitement, the fashion show that opened the party became almost irrelevant, at least on social media. Behind the spectacle, however, was a collection that is – at least within the Dieselverse – thoroughly wearable.
The models braved the storm in t-shirts paired with gray pants, revealing a hint of skin. Discolored anoraks and knitted tank tops evoked worn garments, while V-neck dresses and oversized cardigans were deconstructed. Martens brought Gen-Z friendly ensembles with gritty realism and party-ready style that matched guests’ on-site outfits, while also providing a glimpse of future potential customers. Bold graphic print shirts were reminiscent of film posters, and the models painted with silver spray paint were reminiscent of their alien protagonists. The “D” logo still abounded, as did the illusion that torn dresses could fall off models’ bodies at any moment, and of course, lots of denim.
Few brands continue to be as unbridled as Diesel, unless their own history allows it, as is the case with Roberto Cavalli. Fausto Puglisi, who has been responsible for the Italian label as creative director since 2020, seems to delve deeper into Cavalli’s archive and jungle with each season, this season literally as the designer transformed the Milan Stock Exchange into a green oasis.
It is hard to imagine that Puglisi, like Cavalli himself, has ever heard of minimalism or “quiet luxury,” and if he has, he categorically rejects them. His performance was loud, sometimes flashy, full of 70s hippies and the excess that went with it, but above all the collection was one hundred percent Cavalli – the only question is whether the customers for such a collection didn’t stay in the time of the flower children are.
At Etro, another storied brand with a loud and eclectic history, creative director Marco De Vincenzo seems to be finding his footing after two seasons and establishing his own vision, even if the collection was officially set in “nowhere.”
Minimalist, commercial and yet surprising?
Even though fashion is an industry, commerce is not necessarily a welcome word – especially not when it is used to describe a collection. But Bottega Veneta, Ferragamo and Jil Sander proved that commerce can also be fashionable and, above all, surprising.
Matthieu Blazy started his Bottega Veneta show with his usual simplicity, which gave way to increasingly extreme silhouettes and experiments over the course of the 73 looks. The Belgian designer appears to have turned over a new leaf with a collection that, as he says in the show’s accompanying notes, was “free” and “without codes.”
Despite bold new proportions, the designer remained true to himself and his previously established aesthetic as well as his preference for leather, but combines his signature with a series of new textures that are reminiscent of fishing nets and pom-poms, without appearing exaggerated or even childish. If anything, Blazy proves that minimalism doesn’t have to be boring or even predictable and that fashion can be incredibly wearable even on the runway.
Maximilian Davis also seems to have taken a new path for his third show for Salvatore Ferragamo. The red so present in his first two collections is gone, making way for a minimalist, precisely tailored performance that mixed officewear with elegant eveningwear. The 64-piece collection, like Blazy’s collection, featured lots of leather dipped in deep green, while figure-hugging dresses hugged the models’ bodies. Jackets were replaced by decorative eveningwear and elegant capes revealed sophisticated constructions, all of which appeared both everyday and sophisticated – a balance and art that is otherwise primarily attributed to Prada.
Fashion is in the eye of the beholder
For this season, Italian brand Sunnei has come up with something to expose its collection to the immediate feedback and criticism of the audience in attendance. The idea went far beyond the well-behaved and polite applause that is usual for fashion shows, because those present were given a series of paddles with which they were instructed to rate the looks from one to ten, as was later noted in the comments is done on social media anyway.
While the idea of the designer duo Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina was more of a kind of socially critical mirror for the constant criticism and constant expression of opinions on Instagram etc., it is also an extremely fitting symbol for a season in which The fashion brands seemed particularly concerned about the favor of their customers and the associated commercial success. While most brands won’t know the commercial impact of their collections until February next year at the earliest, Sunnei may have already had a taste.