Prada, white flowers for you (at Milano Moda Donna)

From Prada we always expect the best. The surprises, you find them, the genius. He is to be expected; his story has accustomed us all too well, in this sense. With each show of the most Milanese brand that there is, the bar rises higher and higher, and so it was for this second day of the fashion show of the round of catwalks of Milan Fashion Woman dedicated to the Fall-Winter 2023/24 collections, in which the one designed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons was, as always, the most awaited.

It must be said that the scenic effect with which the show kicks off is no small matter in inebriating us with wonder: in the huge and dark venue of the Foundation, as soon as the first model walks down the runway, the whole ceiling rises, slowly but perceptibly, with a strange effect of a reverse lift that somewhat unsettles us. Slowly the columns seem to lengthen, and instead of the capitals, magnificent and very fragrant inflorescences of white lilies.

White, pure, candid, the flowers applied to the equally white skirts of the very first releases are also perfect, almost bridal, as if to dictate the path of a search for aesthetic purity, simplicity and essence that seems to run through the entire collection. Which, although beautiful and highly desirable, cannot be said to surprise. Who had had the pleasure of witnessing the men’s one last Januarywas able to rediscover many of the looks and many of the ideas of the time faithfully reproduced in a feminine key: i collectors shirtless, jackets brought on bare skinto exalt a powerful and mature sensuality (hence the theme of desire, already traced everywhere on the first day in Milan, confirms itself as a trend), extra long duffel coats and extra short parkas, padded items puffy like pillows…

But the lack of a real effect wow is perhaps the only flaw – if you want to find one – of this collection that is all in all simple, but very clear and defined: beautiful, in a word, full of items that are if we want ordinary, but so special as to become extra-ordinary, and – we repeat – sure to be successful in boutiques.

Three of the brightest stars flocked among the others for the fashion show. The first, Gigi Hadid, which we find on the catwalk. The second, world Dua Lipa, increasingly launched in the firmament of global fashion icons. The third, the most talked about of the moment: Clare Ferragni, of course. alone, of course.

So distant, but in a not indifferent aspect so close, the fashion shows of two brands that we could also read as antithetical; Max Mara on the one hand, Blumarine of the other. In both, in fact, the most characteristic styles of their respective DNAs are backlit – the first is classic, comfortable and sophisticated; sexy, perturbing, ultra-feminine the second – here is a series of references to a world of a distant and ancient past, a past in which one hears, in the distance but present, an echo of war. And it is plausible to think that the current international political panorama is in some way the starting point for this look to the past.

Milano Moda Donna, first day: from Fendi to Alberta Ferretti, everything speaks of desire (and also of sex)

Milan Fashion Week is kicking off, and already from the first day it seems clear that the woman of next Autumn-Winter will have a great desire to tickle the strings of seduction. The thin one, the perverse one, the bourgeois one and the Seventies one. The important thing is to conquer

For Max Mara the declared inspiration is the eighteenth-century French intellectual Émilie du Châtelet, a free spirit who gave way to rational thought in the age of the Enlightenment, and who addressed the issues of education and the social role of women. Here then is that the brand’s must-have coat – camel, but not only – is combined with elements of the time such as high bustiers, panier skirts, corsets, petticoats, brocades, but also masculine elements taken from the military world which, however, become irresistibly feminine.

Definitely stronger, more dramatic and violent than the blast from the past Blumarinewhich by the hand of the creative director Nicola Brognano sends a medieval Joan of Arc on the catwalk, in chain mail, a modern heroine who challenges the flames that make the catwalk red-hot, walking confidently on the bare ground, tucked in long dresses snug fitting (note it: they will surely be a must have this season) and in fluid armor with which to fight your battles.

To counterbalance such gloom here is the usual ironic irreverence of Moschino, this time brighter than ever. Figuratively, but also literally. On the catwalk a punk woman who doesn’t mind her brilliance at all, to the point of covering herself from head to toe with no sense of proportion. The surreal touch that cannot be missing in the maison comes this time straight from Salvador Dalì and his watches Memory persistence: dresses, jackets and accessories that seem to melt, liquefying on the bodies of the models. Almost decomposing, like the faces of us journalists, at the end of a very intense day of fashion shows.

Last but not least, Emporium Armani: among the many reasons why this fashion show can be appreciated, the main one is the smile printed on the beautiful faces of all the models, who face the catwalk, for once, without pouting. Hurray!

Milan Fashion Week, Bianca Balti and the other stars in the front row

With the start of the Milanese fashion shows, punctual as every season, even the celebrities arrive in the front row as guests of the brands: here are their looks

See all the photos from the Fall-Winter 2023/24 fashion shows by:

Max Mara
Genny
Calcaterra
Preview
Prada
MM6 Maison Margiela
Emporio Armani
Blumarine
Moschino
GCDS extension