Versace and Bottega Veneta, authorial debuts that focus on eclecticism and research
At the debut of the two brands Dario Vitale and Louise Trotter. The fantastic Twenties come to life at Ferragamo. Sculptural fluidity for Ferrari, Luisa Spagnoli reminds us that clothes must give, craftsmanship in the foreground for Scervino
3' min read
3' min read
The fashion being seen these days in Milan follows the opposing urgencies of simplification that clarifies and accumulation that reassures, of univocity and multiplicity. Both are valid paths in these unsettling times.
At Ferrari, Rocco Iannone works in reduction: he subtracts the superfluous, as well as the pressure of any automotive reference, to concentrate on form and matter. With the exception of an oxidised red, he does without even colour, because he leaves everything in the natural hue of fabric or leather, with a preponderance of white notes. Fluid in its rendering, sculptural in its construction, the proof is convincing in its resolution and intent.
Maximilian Davis of Ferragamo is also a purist. One of his stylistic obsessions is the 1920s, as much out of understandable aesthetic predilection - even today, they are the decade of linear modernity - as out of observance to the history of the brand, which sees in those years the founder's apogee. The vision of the season comes alive in the cloister of the Portrait Hotel, formerly the Archbishop's Palace, and is as syncopated as a jazz tune: it opens with dinner jackets and flapper dresses, passes through rhythmic graphicisms and ends in black patent leather. A stringent narrative is lacking, but the garments, as wearable objects, are thick and valuable.
Dario Vitale's debut at Versace, on the other hand, is Dionysian, unruly, eclectic: a mismatch of archival themes with a decidedly personal slant, brought to life by bodies that are no longer Olympian and divine, but earthly if not downright earthly. The plan seems to be to extract the spirit by changing the audience, connecting the brand to those who have probably always loved it, but have never dared to wear it. It is a courageous operation, at times overloaded, which divides the public but immediately highlights Vitale's fearless authorial temperament.
Ermanno Scervino brings to the catwalk not one, but multiple feminine characters, convinced that plurality is a strength, not a weakness. The balance of masculine and feminine, of dry tailoring and frothy flou is an enduring trait of the brand's identity, refracted this season in a variety of shades, all romantic, all united by research into material and excellent workmanship.
