MILAN FASHION WEEK 2

SPRING 2012



MOSCHINO - VERSACE

Here we are for Part 2 of my visit to the Milan RTW Collections - we shall be looking at some of the oldest and most revered brands in Italy - not many, only four or so, but one big label produced two collections under their name, just like Armani ...


MOSCHINO
Rosella Jardini is the current designer at Moschino, and she is very good at producing a whole host of design details that are very much in the house style - her matador outfit which opened the show, with all its gold buttons and braiding and the whole Spanish flamenco aesthetic is spot on for Moschino's character as a brand. I love the whole vibrant, energetic and sexy style of the label - we often see Moschino dresses at Cannes, being worn for press calls and smaller parties etc, etc.
I have chosen the evening wear and party dresses which I think we'll be most likely to see this year, out of a very good collection - not all of the designs would be chosen for a red carpet event, so I've been very selective, and the ones here could well be...

First of all, there were some really beautiful white dresses, with big sections of white lace inserted into the design...

 

There were a few of these little day dresses which are definitely pretty enough for a party - the Navajo-style beading around the waist and down the front is really beautiful and reminds me a little of traditional Romanian peasant embroidery too - it does have a slightly Eastern European flavour to it, in terms of detail and colours used...

 

She also used ruffles quite a lot - frills over the shoulders and down the front and round the edges of the skirts...and down the edges of a wrap-over dress...I love the black and white print she used here and the sunny, deep daffodil-yellow is a key colour for next Spring - for many designers !!

 



   

 

Here's that amazing Matador outfit I mentioned - it was bedecked with tinkling little bells apparently, and opened the Moschino show - isn't it fab ?!! I would pay good money to see that on a red carpet, however crazy it looks...
Rosella Jardini took the gold braiding detail of that matador style and applied it to the idea of a short mini-dress with what I thought was astounding results...what do you bet we see at least one of these at one of the big music award shows that are coming up soon ?...


MOSCHINO CHEAP & CHIC
Moschino also have a slightly cheaper and younger brand which is called 'Moschino Cheap & Chic', which is always interesting to see...this time, the whole show was staged around a fruit and veg market stall set, which was nothing if not original !! The theme was eco-chic and there were references to both fruit and veg in the prints and the embellishments...there were also beautiful floral prints too - over-large irises and splashy yellow sunflowers !!
This whole collection felt both energetic and youthful, and the short little dresses possibly brilliant for the Press Calls at Cannes, and other film festivals perhaps !!

 

 

 

 

 

ROBERTO CAVALLI

Roberto Cavalli is celebrating an unbelievable forty years in the fashion designing business this year, and his collection turned out to be quite memorable for it too...I just loved the black dresses with black sequin embellishment down the edges of the knife pleating that hid bright prints in their folds...very original and neat !! I would love to see these on the red carpet...also his full length floral dress with black lace panels overlaid in striped panels was very original too..

 
 
 

Of course, it wouldn't be a Roberto Cavalli Collection without a touch of gold...

 

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
Now we come to the best Milan Collection of all - in my own opinion, of course !!
I simply adored all of this amazing selection of red carpet-ready evening-wear !! From the bronzey leopard prints to the tropical jungley prints in turquoise teamed with cobalt blue and purple, and also orangey-red or shocking pink teamed up with purple, it all shimmered with electric colours and simply put everyone else in the shade with its energy and sexiness...and that says a lot for Milan, I can tell you !!

 

Here's a little selection of the blues and purples...

 

 

 

Trouser suits for evening are a particular interest of mine, as you know and I was very pleased to see this in the middle of all the beautiful dresses - and I just love the delicate narrow-strap sandals too...

 

The orangey-red dresses were beautiful, especially the ones that involved purple in some way - and I also loved the tasselled bags in all the colour combinations !!

 

 

 

 

Purple was also mixed with shocking pink too to give a vibrant feel to the whole collection...yes, shocking pink, orange and purple is a really electric mix and the purple leather jacket just finished things off totally !!

 

 

 

The current designer for this House is Massimiliano Giornetti, and he has been designing here for the last two years, having taken over the reins of the Women's RTW from Cristina Ortiz, for the Autumn 2009 Collection...he was already the Menswear designer anyway, so he was, I suppose, the natural choice and thus charged with bringing this House back to its design roots. Now, he is also managing to bring the House back up to its rightful place at the top of the Italian fashion tree, alongside Versace and Gucci and a few other household names !!
If there is a God, there will be plenty of Ferragamo dresses spotted on the red carpet this season...

VERSACE
Talking of Versace, the latest collection from Donnatella was exactly that - a Donnatella Versace Collection...she has stamped her own personality on the House-style so completely that I can't remember much about the days with Gianni at the helm...and he made the House iconic !!
It does have to be said though, that I've liked the Versace house-style so much more with her heading the design team, as the dresses are way more interesting and way more sexy too...and so very her !!
It's very interesting that the Versace brand appears to be so much more tasteful than when Gianni was designing everything - no garish colour combinations, no heavy gold embroidery or Baroque curlicues, and definitely no big square shoulder pads...it's true there are still plenty of studs, zips and diamanté, but it's all so positively restrained in comparison !! And to think that she was merely the second and lesser experienced designer put in charge of Versus, their cheaper diffusion label for the longest time...but then, it was Gianni's show and Gianni's company - so fair enough !!

For next Spring, she went all aquatic, with waves, seashells, seahorses, starfish and little shoals of fish swimming around - all in white or sugar almond pastels printed with sea ephemera, or decorated with tiny gold studs like the Pearly Queens of Cockney London...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an exquisite collection, perfect for the up and coming music award shows that will deluge this journal all through November - just wait and see...
In the meantime, here's a challenge - try and forecast who will wear what from any of these collections in this post - or rather, who would you like to see wearing which dress ?

Next up will be my first look at the Paris Collection which ended last week...