Milan Fashion Week: Dolce & Gabbana goes futuristic, Versace plays with contrasts

MILAN —  From large visor sunglasses to shiny jackets with huge sleeves, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana offered an array of futuristic looks for women’s winter wardrobes at Milan Fashion Week on Saturday.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana presented mainly all-black outfits that played with shapes. Shoulders were exaggerated, sleeves voluminous, trousers one-legged and sunglasses asymmetric. (See the show at: https://us.dolcegabbana.com/en/fashion-show-women-fall-winter-2022-23/?_gl=1*111b2lh*_ga*OTExMDgyMjE0LjE2Mzk4OTA1ODQ.*_ga_2S6SQZ66CV*MTY0NTkzMzQ4OS4yLjAuMTY0NTkzMzQ5MC41OQ..)

Models wore see-through tops, dresses and leggings, coats and tops with morphed hoods and synched blazer or coat dresses with stockings.

Dabs of bright colors came on bodysuits worn with black dresses with ribbons that wound down the leg or neck, buttoned jackets in pink, orange and yellow, and furry checked or bubble gum pink coats accessorized with matching hats and boots.

Last month, Dolce & Gabbana said it would stop using fur in collections in favor of eco-fur garments and accessories, becoming the latest brand to do so amid changing tastes of younger, environmentally-savvy customers.

More leisurely looks came in loose logoed tops. Other designs shined: gold or silver outfits, red dresses and coats, and see-through sparkling dresses.

CONTRASTS AT VERSACEVersace offered roomy cargo pants and corset dresses at its show on Friday night, presenting an autumn/winter collection that played with contrasts. (See show at: https://www.versace.com/international/en/world-of-versace/stories/fashion-shows/fw-2022-women.html)

Designer Donatella Versace opened the show with a sharp black trouser suit, before swiftly introducing satin corsets in purple, lime, pink, cream or checked worn as tops or adorning tight-fitting dresses as bodices.

Sometimes even puffer jackets bore the shape.

Models wore latex leggings, pinstripe trousers or cargo pants. There were also miniskirts, printed T-shirts and sparkly colorful chain tops. Large checked prints adorned jackets and skirts.

“This collection is built on contrast and tension — like an elastic band pulled tight and about to snap-back with a build-up of energy,” Donatella Versace said of the line.

“That feeling is just irresistible to me. It opens new possibilities and makes things happen.”

Versace also peppered the line with denim, presenting wide-leg jeans and miniskirts.

GUCCI MIXES FASHION WITH SPORTSWEARItalian luxury label Gucci made a triumphant return to Milan Fashion Week on Friday, with a star-studded catwalk show that featured a new collaboration with sports brand Adidas.

(See the show here:https://www.gucci.com/us/en/st/exquisite-gucci-fashion-show-stories)

This was Gucci’s first catwalk show at Milan Fashion Week in two years. Like other fashion houses, the label turned to digital showcases after the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In November, it held an off-calendar catwalk show in Los Angeles.

Walking a catwalk lined with mirrors, models wore an array of trousers suits: loose, fitted, patterned, studded or with pointy shoulders. Some blazers were one-shouldered. There were nods to 1980s disco looks with sparkling suits or a shiny jumpsuit. Lace tops were frilled, shiny skirts slit.

Creative director Alessandro Michele called the collection “Exquisite Gucci.”

“I use the metaphor of the magical mirror to approach the phantasmagorical power of fashion. A sacred power that radiates from the surface of the fabrics. And there I work, on this tactile surface, through cross references, alterations, loopholes and grafts,” he said in show notes.

“Juxtaposing worlds and meanings. Altering the stability of perception. Manipulating and magnifying the existing. Through these interventions, I celebrate the clothes as real optical labs: magical machines that can give birth to fairy tales of metamorphosis and re-enchantment.”

Mr. Michele also revealed a collaboration with Adidas, with the sports brand’s logo and stripes appearing on blazers, long dresses with zipped corsets, trousers and headwear, including swim cap-like hats and baseball caps with front and back visors. Accessories included slim ties, berets and a wide range of bags.

PRADA CELEBRATES ‘HISTORY OF WOMEN’Italian fashion label Prada 1913.HK offered sheer vest-like dresses and embellished coats for women’s wardrobes next winter at its Milan Fashion show on Thursday, presenting a collection its designers described as looking at “the history of women.” (Watch the show here: https://www.prada.com/ww/en/pradasphere/fashion-shows/2022/fw-womenswear.html)

The runway presentation came on the second day of Milan Fashion Week, which was hosting mainly in-person shows — rather than digital presentations — this season.

Designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons said they had continued a theme of stripping back looks from previous collections for the autumn/winter 2022 line, called “An Ideology of Prada.”

These included white vest tops worn with two-tone skirts and sheer see-through dresses. Tailored blazers had large shoulders while coats bore rounded necklines. Some coats had chains across the neck or feathers on the sleeves.

“This collection is about the history of women, the history of people, not the history of fashion,” Miuccia Prada said in shownotes.

Models also wore matching jackets and skirts in dark grey and black, elongated and belted bomber jackets decorated with sparkling florals and printed jumpers paired with polo necks.

“Valuing history includes us valuing Prada’s history — I think of revolutionary moments in Prada’s history, and we echo them here,” Mr. Simons said.

“There are never direct recreations, but there is a reflection of something you know, a language of Prada. And those moments have helped define our idea of beauty today, which we are now redefining.”

EMPORIO ARMANI RETURNSVeteran designer Giorgio Armani returned to the catwalk to present his latest Emporio Armani line, after cancelling his menswear and couture shows in January due to a surge of COVID-19 infections in Europe. (See the show here: https://www.armani.com/en-us/experience/emporio-armani/fashion-show-fall-winter)

Male and female models wore all-grey outfits — trouser suits, cozy knits, tailored jackets as well as mountain wear, with models carrying skis and snowboards.

Pops of green and blush appeared on womens’ tops, velvet trousers and jumpers printed with wavy patterns while for the evening, there were dresses with large sequins. Shirts bore large bows.

CHIFFON AND TWEED AT FENDIMilan Fashion Week kicked off last Wednesday with designer Kim Jones revisiting Italian luxury label Fendi’s archives. (See the show here: https://www.fendi.com/ii-en/cm/eu1-default/woman/highlights-woman/women-fall-winter-2022-2023-fashion-show)

Model Bella Hadid opens the show in a pale pink chiffon slip dress, teamed with a cropped furry jacket and long green cashmere gloves.

Hers was the first of many soft chiffon designs in the collection, including see-through tops, trousers and jumpsuits, adorned with wavy frills or patterns and sometimes peeping out of tweed outfits.

Kim Jones, artistic director of Fendi couture and womenswear, said he looked into the archives after seeing jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez wearing her mother’s old Memphis-print blouse.

Mr. Jones works alongside Ms. Delettrez’s mother and the founding family’s scion Silvia Venturini Fendi, who looks after menswear and accessories, at the Rome-based label.

He turned specifically to two collections designed by his predecessor, the late Karl Lagerfeld: Fendi’s Spring/Summer 1986 and Autumn/Winter 2000 lines, reworking prints and styles.

“The best place to explore the Fendi archives is through the Fendi wardrobes,” Mr. Jones said in show notes. “And these are collections which, although they come from the past, feel very now.”

Models wore checked trousers, high-waisted skirts and corset-like shirts. Jackets were cropped, trousers slim, and belts were pocketed to carry phones.

“It’s a wardrobe designed for every aspect of a woman’s life, for every generation,” Mr. Jones said. “And it all started with Delfina.”

For accessories, Venturini Fendi marked 25 years of the brand’s Baguette’s bag by bringing back editions in cashmere, shearling-lined leather and intarsia mink. — Reuters