Milan Fashion Week fall-winter 2024: the trends that matter

Milan
CNN
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The gimmicks went missing at the latest Milan shows which ended yesterday with designers striking a more serious note encouraging investment purchases. Bold new directions also seemed to be on hold, as fashion houses multiplied their sell-out signatures. A celebration of fashion was not rather a moment of reflection.

Schedules Renowned designers took the microphone to highlight the positive role fashion can play, while acknowledging, without being specific, the growing turbulence the world is facing.

Backstage after her show, Miuccia Prada said the starting point for her and co-creator Raf Simons was an instinctive need for love and kindness, especially in a time like this. Across town, at a preview in her office, Donatella Versace recalled that, living in today's world, we need courage to move forward, and that fashion is a vehicle for positivity and conviviality.

Industry veteran Giorgio Armani agrees: “We don't change the world and we can't solve the world's problems either, but we can offer people a moment of levity.” While Bottega Venetas, Matthieu Blazy was the most direct when he proclaimed: “In a world on fire, there is something very human in the simple act of dressing. We all watch the same information. It's hard to celebrate at this point. Yet the idea of ​​rebirth is also beautiful.

This feeling was clearly reflected in all the collections in the so-called Franken styles: part of one thing, part of another, put together to become a hybrid piece.

At Prada, what appeared to be a wool blazer from the front had a satin vest at the back, while the skirts were an apron-negligee combo. At Bottega Veneta, Blazy combined and compressed silhouettes from different eras and pinned dresses with pins, while at MSGM, Massimo Giorgetti who based his collection on the destructive fallout from Truman Capotes' La Côte Basque essay had zippers that ran around the body like stitches. everything is together, ready to come apart at any moment.

The distorted theme was carried over into the cable knits presented at Ferragamo, Fendi, Tods and Prada, which heralded the evolution of the twinset. Next season, it's more with knits, as cardigans and sweaters arrive nonchalantly draped and layered with controlled abandon.

Breaking through the plethora of black leather boots that dominated most collections, the shoe of the season is one with embellishments everywhere. At Dolce & Gabbana, ostrich features floated on each leg; at Jil Sander, the stiletto heels were covered in black goat hair; and at Tods, new creative director Matteo Tamburini has revamped the famous Gommino moccasin with entirely leather pompoms.

Relegated to being a style decade that people preferred to forget, the 1980s are slowly but surely starting to appear on the radar. When Kim Jones found a 1984 Karl Lagerfeld sketch in the Fendi archives, it sent him back in time with the New Romantics and the wardrobes of Leigh Bowery, Judy Blame and Princess Julia, referenced in the series with irregular polka dots and a subtle ode. in his native London. London had a great influence in the world, influencing all the designers of the time, he said.

At Giorgio Armani, the designer opened his show with his 1980s muse, Gina di Bernardo, who was photographed in several campaigns by legendary photographer Aldo Fallais for the house during the show period. And Donatella Versace brought back the blazer she designed for musician Prince back in the day, something that would make him look taller, she said, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

It's a legacy winter style but that hasn't stopped them from being everywhere this season Ferragamo, Tom Ford, Bottega, Versace and Diesel, to name just a few. Continuing on from the men's shows in January, long, refined and without frills, this is the memo of this trend which takes leave of Matrix.

According to Bottega Veneta: Honesty in materiality and silhouette means that clothes no longer pretend to be anything other than what they really are: there is comfort and protection in soft leather.

With the exception of scarlet leather accents, Milan's color palette was extremely dark and utilitarian for Fall/Winter 2024, with dark khaki and olive green dominating (beautifully at Ferragamo and Tods).

Even at MaxMara, famous for its camel brand, creative director Ian Griffiths took a deliberately different direction by focusing on silhouette rather than shadow. It was good to free myself from camel for a season and I couldn't have made these clothes in camel, he said backstage. We're not abandoning him, we're just giving him a rest, and it's a rest for me too.

The denim also became dark. Next season it's all about double-selvedge denim, clean cut and precise ironing.

With a clear focus on non-confrontational fashion throughout the weeks of shows, with the exception of the very last one at Avavav, which saw trash thrown at models on the catwalk and the brand addressing its poor reviews with commentary rolling on the screens on either side, a sense of preservation clung. in the air. Milan designers focused on exquisite craftsmanship rather than clickbait, not so much reinventing the wheel, but getting it rolling.