A NEW WEBSITE AND... NEW FASHION?

Thom Browne, fall-winter 2018

Wait! Fashion changes look. It is renewed. Mutating is good. But is fashion also doing it? At what point is the second sector of the financial statement, at least in Italy? After Pitti Uomo in Florence and the fashion shows in New York, London, and these first three days of Milan Fashion Week, for the presentation of the collections to wear next winter, I try to take a picture of the trends, then the looks, without forgetting those choices conditioned by commercial needs: what does the public require today?

This analysis moves from those independent definable brands, which do not need to overturn their appearance to sell. Those realities that over time, even if relatively young like the American Thom Browne, born as a ready-to-wear brand in 2003, or Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, on the market since 2014, or even Massimo Alba and its poetic and sophisticated made in Italy since 2006, have been able to establish themselves and create their own niche of customers. It is not possible to omit from the new generations Francesca Liberatore, on the catwalk Saturday 24 February in Milan, after having presented several seasons in New York. Being autarchic by fashion, understood as that temporary process that requires being followed by the mass to exist, does not mean being devoid of inventiveness, but only pursuing the own path and passion using personal work criteria, not influenced by the rest, for example social networks.

Prada, fall-winter 2018

Prada is part of the analyst brands, that is, those who create a collection based on the same silhouette, on which, however, the world outside the fashion one is translated under the form of prints, colors and fabrics, each time different. It consists in: art – very dear to Miuccia Prada -, society, technology, therefore also the web and the new mechanisms of interpersonal communication via images, Instagram on all. Not even on purpose, the last woman collection presented last night, has reflected on the theme of identity, placing, in the space of the flagship of a blazer, a sort of badge – yes, just what you use to identify, in fact, a person at work. As if to say: “What do we women have to do today, in the cybernetic era?”. But it is not only the Milanese brand that carries out this analysis. Beyond personal opinions, the same Gucci fashion show designed by Alessandro Michele, put his point of view on clothing, extending it to men too. Lucio Vanotti, despite the young age of the brand, born in 2012, proposes, from his birth as a designer, a fashion through a critical look, making rational analyzes of the zeitgeist bringing them back into its aesthetics.

Gucci, fall-winter 2018

Lucio Vanotti, fall-winter 2018

“Progress is such only if it is activated by positive actions, otherwise there is a regression.” It is one of the many concepts of Giovanni Sartori, applicable to current fashion, in particular to maisons which, rather than studying society, follow it. And today this community includes street-style, along with the current aesthetic called sports-couture. The point is that there are those who can do it well – by inventive or because they have consultants who are very attentive to public demand – and others less so. Among those who have hit the target, especially for men’s clothing, we find again Vanotti and Alexander Wang, even if the first outfits released during the last women’s fashion show were very close to the iconic looks of Saint Laurent and Versace. And speaking of the latter, it is the classic example of a fashion house, whose creative team constantly interfaces with the needs of the trends, for commercial reasons, of course. But it does it quite well: in just a few seasons Donatella managed to be both a designer and an entrepreneur, rediscovering the brand to the new generations of millennials. We’ll see what the show tonight will reserve for us.

Alexander Wang, fall-winter 2018

And it is with the future that the latest stylistic track to be opened is inaugurated, that of cutting-edge brands. If until a few years ago we could count on the inspiration of Gaultier and Victor & Rolf, currently creators of Haute Couture collections, we refer to the last remaining ones: Maison Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Comme des Garçons. Marc Jacobs is placed in the hypothetical classification with alternating phases, but with the women’s collection presented at the latest fashion week in New York, it is possible to include it, at least for now, in these names, which, to interpret them again, we will have to wait for the fashion shows of Paris next week.

Marc Jacobs, fall-winter 2018

So, recalling the initial question: at what point is fashion? This analysis, although brief, shows that there is no homologation, at least not by those who baste collections. Certainly today sportswear is preferred, but not for everyone and in particular not in the same way for all. For once, the fashion-system can be translated, if not only as something positive, like a dynamic, evolving reality.