From Bottega Veneta’s big seasonal debut to emerging names to watch out for and historic brands, the Milan shows presented the memory of Italian savoir-faire.
Milan Fashion Week AW22: the highlights – in pictures and reviews
Text by: Domenico Costantini
Bottega Veneta
“In its essence Bottega Veneta is pragmatic, because it started as a leather goods company. By specialising in handbags, it speaks of movement, of the idea of moving towards a direction: it is fundamentally about craftsmanship in action, about style before trend, which then, is part of its quiet authority.”
With these words Matthieu Blazy explained his long-awaited debut collection.
A discourse unravelled in the 69 exits of the show: the back of the cabans builds curves, as if it was moved by the wind – a shilouettes inspired by the work of a futurist Umberto Boccioni (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913).
The concept of timeless luxury advocated by Blazy is therefore no longer located in elitism – as it was for Daniel Lee, with his secret shows and the disappearance of the bran from the social radar, which he wanted – but in the direction of precious workmanship, which it doesn’t need marketing to be interesting.
A new beginning that seems to be moving in a different direction also in the approach to publishing, with the financial support provided by the brand to Butt, a historic queer magazine that will see the light again after 10 years of activity.
Prada
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons present a collection that serves not only to reinterpret the history of Prada, but also of fashion and its transformations.
The designers don’t let themselves be frightened by the meaning that the unconstructed mentality has attributed to the word and prepared an autumn-winter 2022-23 Prada collection as an articulated ideological explanation of the meaning of the brand through the codes of the historical archives, taking inspiration from two collections that still emanate modern vibrations such as: the SS 2009 with wrinkled silks that gives live to the garments, and the SS 2010 with a transparent-metallic effect revisited in a techno key for a more modern look.
Marni
With a poetic performance, Francesco Risso presents a collection of clothes born from the care of repair. A method for preserving memory and repairing lacerations. Indicating a method for taking care of fragility, of clothes and for people. The location is a psychotherapy route, the personality is reconstructed, staring in the dark with the enormous shed form an ex tabacco factory filled with plants, here the models (the patients) enter, mingling with the public, guided only by the light of a torch with which someone behind them is helps them find their way (the psychotherapist). Then, suddenly, as they leave the room, a table is laid in the courtyard, the light after the storm, and finally the wound in the heart and mind is sewn up, while preserving it as a memory.
Sunnei
In Via Codino, behind Fondazione Prada, surrounded by construction sites, models arrive one by one on taxis and then simply run through life. Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo present the new Sunnei collection with a performance that makes us reflect on our relationship with time (and haste).
The winter 2022/2023 fashion show tells of bolder volumes and proportions, experimental knitwear, tailored overcoats, dresses held together by zips that close diagonally.
Jil Sander
The set-up is an ellipse of velvet with plush curtains and replicas of ancient Greek statues scattered in the centre, from the Venus de Milo to the Belvedere torso.
The collection is dynamic but moves lightly. Lucie and Luke Meier explored a more gentle type of clothing, covering bodies with softness and conveying an effortless allure.
Moschino
Jeremy Scott presents us with a surreal maximalism peppered with authentic quotes, homages and original elaborations.
The designer re-edits the codes of Franco Moschino who used golden forks and spoons to adorn some of his creations, including a classic Moschino suit from 1989.
And if the eternal reference seems to be the founder himself, here we have an intellectual tribute to the history of costume: Dior’s 2006 F/W Italian Renaissance inspired collection.
To reinforce the parallelism, Scott beyond the historical note, dresses as an astronaut, just like John Galliano did.
Paying homage to memory is not plagiarism but an act of extreme intelligence and beauty!
Fendi
Kim Jones consciously oscillates between tradition and experimentation, taking the heritage of the brand and reworking the creations of the women garments of the Maison.
She reframes two iconic Fendi collections by juxtaposing the geometric prints of 1986 designed by Karl Lagerfeld, with the diaphanous lightness of F/W 2000.
All this without ever being nostalgic, but looking with conviction to the future.
