Because of travel bans, there were no guests from China at Milan Fashion Week. And so on Friday, Prada brought its show to them, staging simultaneous shows in Milan and Shanghai.
It was a reminder of the sweeping shifts that have taken place in luxury since Milan last held a fully fledged fashion week 19 months ago, back when Prada announced that Raf Simons would be joining founder Miuccia Prada as co-creative director (this week marked his first in-person show since he joined ) and Italy reported its first death from Covid-19, prompting Giorgio Armani to cancel his physical show just hours before.
Over that period, Chinese consumers’ share of global luxury goods purchases increased to 46 per cent, according to Jefferies. (Prada now attributes half of its revenues to the Asia region, compared to one-third pre-pandemic.) Big brands have become bigger, collections have become smaller, and designers have had to learn to present their collections digitally — lessons that are carrying on now that in-person shows have mostly returned, albeit with face masks and vaccination checks at the door.
To pull off the dual shows, Prada had to produce and ship two identical collections; assemble two show sets; and cast two sets of models. As one model moved through the shadowy basement of the Fondazione Prada in Milan, narrow screens showed her identically dressed counterpart taking the same steps at the Bund 1 in Shanghai (they were also live-streamed side-by-side online). In the show notes, Prada and Simons described the simultaneous shows as a “dialogue” and a blending of “physical and virtual realities”.
It was also about sex, which has emerged as the predominant theme in Milan (it was simmering in New York and London too). After a decade of oversized everything, and more than a year of being swaddled up at home, skirts are suddenly short, dresses cling, tops reveal and resemble lingerie.
At Prada — where Miuccia Prada has spent three decades rejecting conventional sexiness — there were thigh-skimming mini skirts and distressed leather moto jackets slung over bare chests; thick silk cocktail dresses in orange and black stamped with the Prada triangle, left unbuttoned at the back to reveal knotted leather belts; and creamy corset jackets with laces half undone. Fluorescent ribbed-knit jumpers were stitched to emphasise the under-curves of breasts. The designers called it “seduction through reduction”.
It was a sophisticated take on sexiness, but not a very inclusive one. Not one model that walked the Prada catwalks in Milan and Shanghai was larger than sample size. This, after witnessing such a diverse range of body types on the runways of New York and London, made what was otherwise a forward-thinking show feel retrogressive.
(Prada was not alone in its casting miss — no plus-models were fitted in Armani’s glittering mermaid-princess gowns, or in Dolce & Gabbana’s strappy black lace bra tops or bejewelled double denim. They were conspicuously absent at Missoni too, and dozens of other shows.)
But Prada is broadly on the right track. There has been a renewed confidence in the label since the 53-year-old Simons was appointed co-creative director, answering the question of who might eventually succeed Miuccia, 72; the company’s shares are trading about one-third higher than they were pre-pandemic.
Succession has been a thornier issue at other family-owned labels. Angela Missoni stepped down as creative director after 24 years at the helm of the women’s house founded by her parents in May. Her interim successor Alberto Caliri, tasked by newish chief executive Livio Prioli to make Missoni “more elegant and cool”, sent out models in vertiginous stilettos, their loose trench coats and shirts left open to reveal string bikinis in the signature Missoni weave; another wore a mini skirt monogrammed with the Missoni name, and a narrow band of fabric that barely covered her breasts.
It was a sad departure from the refined image built by one of Italy’s last family-owned — and formerly female-led — luxury houses. It’s also a cautionary tale for other independent labels considering outside investment (the Missonis sold a 41 per cent stake to the Italian fund FSI in 2018).
It made Versace, the label that has carried the banner for overt Italian sexiness for much of the past four decades, look positively modest by comparison, with its joyously bright trouser suits in hot pink and lime, and rubbery black dresses split over the thigh.
Ferragamo is also between creative directors, and the house’s spring collection was full of head-scratching decisions: dresses draped between the legs, thus resembling diapers; a long black raffia skirt cut into shorts in the back; clogs with upturned toe points that called to mind Christmas elves. Incoming chief executive Marco Gobbetti, who will soon join Ferragamo from Burberry, certainly has his work cut out for him.
One creative refresh that is quietly beginning to bear fruit is Walter Chiapponi’s at Tod’s. Though the brand’s sales are down 17 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, its footwear has started to gain traction with retailers — a very good thing, given that four-fifths of Tod’s revenues come from footwear. For spring, he showed square-toed ankle boots and gold-buckled loafers affixed to solid wooden platforms, low-heeled thong sandals and sporty sandals with pebbled undersoles. Up close, the quality is excellent.
Not every brand in Milan went the mini skirt route. Colville, designed by former Marni designer Molly Molloy and British Vogue fashion director Lucinda Chambers, showed easy, structured dresses patch-worked from old T-shirts and curtain fabrics found on eBay. At Jil Sander, where new owner and OTB chairman Renzo Rosso has made public his ambitions to quadruple revenues, husband and wife team Luke and Lucie Meier presented oversized blazers stripped of buttons and lapels to emphasise their soft, squarish shapes, and simple shirt dresses gathered and top-stitched over one hip. It was smart, beautiful and just the right amount of eclectic; every fabric and detail felt carefully considered.
Easily the most memorable show of the week came from fellow OTB brand Marni, where creative director Francesco Risso outfitted not only models of varying body shapes in a bohemian panoply of daisy-print dresses and stripey flared trousers but also about 150 members of the audience in shirts, dresses and smocks recycled from past collections and then hand-painted, numbered and tailored to that guest’s favoured silhouette (Vogue’s Anna Wintour was given a green floral dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt).
Dissolving the line between performance and audience — Risso himself sat among the other guests — it was one of those rare, shared experiences that make in-person shows special. And an upbeat end to Milan Fashion Week.
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