Italian designers kicked off fashion week Thursday in Milan, with Max Mara, Fendi and Gucci being the first to showcase their designs.
Gucci’s fall 2017 ready-to-wear collection was sure to surprise the audience. In an interview with Vogue magazine, Gucci designer Alessandro Michele said, “I’m trying to follow my rules, not fashion rules.”
That is exactly what Michele did with his extensive collection, which had 120 different looks. He also mixed in men’s looks with women’s and noted it makes it easier for him to focus when both sexes are considered together.
“This is always my world,” he told Vogue. “I want to swim in my ocean.”
Some standout points were the butterflies, loads of glitter and a curved bar nose ring that most women models wore.
So what could have Michele been inspired by when creating this collection? According to Women’s Wear Daily, a fashion-trend journal, he is creating his own signature — all eccentricity, gentleness and highly decorated clothes and accessories.
Vogue also cites the formal gardens of Italian and English country houses, Renaissance paintings and Michele’s friend Jared Leto as inspirations and obsessions for the designer.
The front row at the Gucci show was packed with A-listers such as Leto, Selma Hayek, Tom Hiddleston, Alexa Chung and A$AP Rocky.
Next up, Fendi wowed its audience with its star-packed model lineup. The lineup included it girls and Victoria’s Secret Angels Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Stella Maxwell and Romee Strijd.
Karl Lagerfeld, designer of not only Chanel but also Fendi, and accessories designer Silvia Venturini Fendi incorporated a statement hot-sauce red boot with every look. Vogue is calling this the ‘color of the season.’ According to Popsugar, a popular women’s publication, Lagerfeld and Fendi traced their inspiration roots back to 1925 — the birth of the fashion house.
These red-hot boots come in all lengths and finishes, from thigh-high to ankle, to shiny to muted velvet, we will for sure be seeing many of these boots on red carpets around the world soon.
The collection was adorned with Fendi’s very recognizable brand logo, two harshly interlocking Fs. The logo appeared in the center of hoop earrings and on the titled flaps of structured satchels, Popsugar notes.
Lastly, Max Mara’s fall 2017 ready-to-wear collection stayed true to the women who depend on heavy tailoring to get them through their days, Vogue said.
The show featured a model who has transmitted some political conversation with her appearance in the designer’s show.
Halima Aden is a 19-year-old Somali-American from Minnesota who shocked the country when she donned a hijab in her state’s selection round for the Miss USA competition.
Besides the political statement Mara made surrounding the importance of inclusiveness and a cultural religious level at the forefront of the current fashion world, the collection included pieces ranging in color from blood-red to its classic camel-colored garments.
Milan Fashion Week continues until Feb. 28 before Paris designers take to the streets to show the fashion world what they have created this season.
sbunes@indiana.edu
