Five of the best moments at Milan Fashion Week
In the wake of Milan Fashion Week, one thing is clear: new rules are being written. From Fendi's Seventies-inspired show, where workwear was shaken up with a dose of high voltage Milanese glamour, to Versace's loud and proud rainbow parade (set to the soundtrack of RuPaul's Drag Race), there are fresh, invigorating style notes for us all. Here are five of the best moments...
Camel colours
Fendi’s Seventies-tinged, soft-focus, caramel and chocolate-toned collection was a mellow take on corporate dressing, with camel coats in fluid silks and cashmere, traditional pinstriped suits updated with iridescent fabrics and stripes in bronze instead of standard grey and chunky, shaggy outerwear that looked as if Paddington bear had embraced some high voltage Milanese glamour. A collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld - Fendi’s womenswear designer - in a series of illustrations added a whimsical touch alongside the muted fawn mood.
Great outdoors
Mr Armani’s Emporio line has always embraced a dynamic kind of man, with activewear catering to everyone from alpine adventurers to urban speedsters.
For autumn/winter, the elder statesman of subtle masculine style combined the two, turning technical denim into skiwear, pairing heavy-duty parkas with airy, fluid suits and offering up a procession of yeti-esque, swamping coats and jackets trimmed in faux fur that’s been developed to have zero impact on the environment.
Fabric innovation
Italian behemoth Brunello Cucinelli is a byword for understated luxury, and this focus on exceptional fabrication carried through to his autumn/winter offering, which applied soft corduroy to suits and plush, deep velvet to a series of handsome tuxedos. The designer might use the most luxurious of fabrics - his cashmeres can fetch into the four figures - but he doesn’t keep things precious; there was a sporty vim and vigour to Cucinelli’s cargo trousers and jogger-hoodie combos; this is leisurewear for the private jet, not the gym.
Robust leather
How do you make a big old parka look sartorial? Give it to Andrea Incontri, Tod’s head of menswear, who tinkered with the formula of outerwear to apply prints that evoke heritage - subtle plaids in this case - and make them robust and waterproof, for a Milanese elegance when you’re in the Alpine wilderness.
The house, famed for its shoes and sell-out Gommino driving loafer, applies its technical capabilities with leather to its clothing, too, with suede pea coats and heavy-duty puffas.
New suiting solutions
Creative director Alessandro Sartori doesn’t exactly rip up the rule book - nothing as anarchic as that - rather he discreetly slides it to one side to create his own. For autumn/winter, that translates into laying down a new template for pattern.
Houndstooth, plaids and Prince of Wales checks were artfully replaced with other signifiers; a fragmented pattern like broken lettering that featured across coats and jackets, a pattern of a commuting man picked out in silk. A cropped, boxy blouson plus marching trousers that can be transformed via straps from cargo pants to airier iterations, equals his interpretation of a new form of suiting: matching but not traditionally tailored.
And a special mention to being loud and proud…
There aren’t many brands who choose to fly the rainbow flag for their gay following, but Donatella Versace’s collection paid homage with a range of searingly bright silk shirts, feather-trimmed suits and take-no-prisoners leopard print that called to mind the free and easy atmosphere of South Beach in the Nineties, to which Gianni Versace was integral. The RuPaul soundtrack had the audience sashaying away with a spring in their step.
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