BA Fashion Panel Discussion
BA Fashion Panel Discussion
BA Fashion Panel Discussion
BA Fashion Panel Discussion
BA Fashion Panel Discussion
MFW:AW20
PRADA
YET AGAIN held in Fondazione Prada where we witness Miuccia Prada‘s menswear offerings last month. For womenwear AW20 the Prada show was set in two deep void-like piazzas. From above, the audience peered down at what could’ve been a daytime TV game show from the future. Each space identical, its centrepiece a reimagined statue of Atlas, and its walls decked in graphic floral and linear motifs, setting the scene for Miuccia Prada’s underground dystopia.
The first series of looks featured wool tailored jackets and overcoats, nipped at the waist with kiss-lock purse belts. Wristwatches and necklaces featured similar miniature adornments – adhering to this season’s micro trend. Traditional suiting was transformed with hair-like fringing and tailored skirts that were cut and slashed into thick ribbons, fluttering wildly as the models walked the show.
Occasional injections of block colour rendered in lavender, emerald and candy tones, appeared on ties and opaque tights. Tweed blazer lapels and knitted cardigans were ornamented with cascading strings of black beads, complimenting a pair of lemon and lilac sequin embroidered dresses, which emerged later in the show.
Moving away from work-wear, a series of nude sheer dresses were worn under jackets and over knitted sporty two-pieces, finished off with floral stitching that echoed the prints on the walls. Said prints were carried forward on to sweater-vests and black pyjama-style silks that closed the show.
Miuccia Prada’s latest collection upholds her legacy in creating clothes for women that communicate strength. Her sheer wit, meticulous attention to detail and manipulation of tailoring, speaks – like it always has done – to the contemporary woman.
GUCCI
BRINGING backstage on stage, for AW20 Alessandro Michele turned the Gucci show space inside out. Set behind panes of glass on a revolving circular platform, the space was lit with dim sepia-toned lighting, which cast shadows onto the scene behind the glass.
The space was filled with rails and white robes, each model surrounded by their own team of dressers, hair-stylists and make-up artists, all making final refinements to their looks. In the centre of the platform, a large illuminated pendulum tick-tocked back and forth to the sounds of Ravel’s Bolero, as one-by-one the models turned and lined up in the audience facing glass box.
Five years on from his first womenswear collection in February 2015, this season Michele looked back in time for inspiration. Heavily influenced by his own personal archive of vintage children’s clothing, the collection – doll-like in appearance – featured grey flannel and peter-pan collared school dresses.
Polished, platform Mary Jane shoes were paired with white frilly knee-high socks and laddered lights. Hems were cropped and sleeves three quarter length, the clothes appearing outgrown like old school uniforms.
The overall sense of childhood nostalgia was juxtaposed with unexpected harnesses, black studded boots and high-shine buckled chokers. Some showpieces took inspiration from Victorian dress, with full heavily laced tiered skirts and bow adornments.
As a whole, in true Gucci fashion, the collection was mismatched yet pleasantly surprising. And as for the set, Journalists are used to seeing only the final stage of what a designer spends months making, and Michele’s decision to turn this on its head, marked a refreshing start to Milan Fashion Week this season.