Report from Milan

BY: Andy Shoulders

Milan’s Fall/Winter 2020 runways were ablaze with all of the latest trends – Victorian everything, confectionary clothing, puffy sleeves, orange aplenty – and the runways were all truly show-geared spectacles (versus what will actually be produced commercially). The recent spread of Coronavirus managed to creep in and affect certain designers’ decisions (Armani chose to livestream his show rather than host a live audience), but the fashions were strong nonetheless. Here are four of our favorite shows from February’s Milan Fashion Week.

MOSCHINO

“Let them eat cake” was the name of the game for Moschino’s Fall/Winter 2020 collection. As more and more cake-themed marketing started creeping out, along with a cake-shaped invitation to the Fall/Winter 2020 show, we knew we would be in for something sweet. Creative Director Jeremy Scott went full Marie Antoinette with this idea and sent stacked wigs, full-on cake dresses, and exaggerated silhouettes down the runway. In true Moschino fashion, the accessories further drove home the theme, with clutches in the shapes of macaroons, mirrors, and even baguettes that are sure to be the next novelty bag must-have. Cheeky and chic at the same time, Moschino’s Fall/Winter 2020 collection definitely served onlookers their just desserts.

GUCCI

Creative Director Alessandro Michele took guests behind the scenes for his Fall/Winter 2020 show. Staged at the brand’s headquarters (formally known as the Gucci Hub), the show opened with a “staged-backstage” performance formerly known only to show producers. Inside a moving glass carousel, models were painted at the makeup counter and dressed before being sent out on the runway, which brought the backstage and onstage duality (duality being a favorite tool of Michele’s) to the forefront. Guests were treated to gauzy babydoll dresses, Georgian gowns, and true-to-Gucci dandy-inspired schoolgirl separates. The show could be pieced apart and interpreted in a number of ways, but true to form, Alessandro Michele managed to do all of it without saying a word.

MISSONI

Knitwear mecca Missoni staged its Fall/Winter 2020 show inside Milan’s new ADI Design Museum, which proved to be quite fitting as the house’s codes were reconfigured into dizzying collages of contrasting knits. Missoni’s signature motifs – chevrons and graphic patterns – were chopped and rearranged into eye-catching patchworks. Slouchy silhouettes dominated the collection, exhibited across informal suiting, oversize cardigans, and boxy coats. Accessories quite literally tied everything together, with half-undone knit ties, patterned knit scarves as handbag straps, and graphic knit handkerchiefs fastened around necks. Missoni made sure to get in on the confectionary theme as well, featuring several pieces with glittery lurex for both men and women.

PRADA

Prada’s Fall/Winter 2020 show was all about “femininity as strength.” Miuccia Prada’s main focus was that traditionally feminine motifs such as delicacy and frivolity do not equal weakness. In fact, Prada achieved quite the opposite. On the runway, “clichés of femininity” were paired with decidedly testosterone-driven ideas. Fringed skirts with masculine belted jackets, basketball jerseys lengthened to the knee and adorned with scores of beads, classic bib-front shirts paired with crystals hanging from the shoulders…Prada’s focus on feminine armor was clear. Miuccia Prada time and again manages to create her own vocabulary in a world of powerful designing men, and her Fall/Winter 2020 show was no exception.