The Leftovers: Milan Fashion Week FW13

My relationship with Milan Fashion Week has always been shaky. There are a number of reasons. Firstly, the tenor of the clothes that come out of the city rarely fills me with excitement. Reading through my past posts on the subject, the city and its collections always seem to leave me "waiting for Paris". Recently I think the lack of new blood has more to do with my distaste than any other factor. Every season in London, and to a lesser extent in New York, there are names that I haven’t heard of, new voices expanding the fashion conversation. With a few exceptions (Prada, No. 21, Marni), Milan feels stale season after season.

The clothes for Fall/Winter 2013 stuck pretty close to the party line. There was fur lining sleeves and hoods and adorning full coats.

At Marni

At Prada

At Trussardi

At Blumarine

At Alberta Ferretti

The color story only had two real players. Black.

At Alberta Ferretti

At Prada

At Max Mara

At Jil Sander

At Marni

At Bottega Veneta

At Gucci

And white.

At Francesco Scognamiglio

At Marco de Vincenzo

At Genny

At Gianfranco Ferré

At No. 21

At Dolce & Gabbana

At Luisa Beccaria

Herringbone, glenplaid, windowpane, and their various relatives were featured on everything from coats to skirts to child-like rompers.

At Trussardi

At Marco de Vincenzo

At Dolce & Gabbana

At Gucci

At Aquilano.Rimondi

At Alberta Ferretti

And boxy shapes figured more heavily than they had been in the previous cities.

At Marni

At No. 21

At Max Mara

At Iceberg

At Antonio Marras

At Etro

However, the suits began to fade into the background.

At Missoni

At Blumarine

At Roberto Cavalli

At Moschino

It’s an unsurprising development. The narrative around femininity in Milan is very limited. Its primary focus is the stereotypical and superficially sexy, and menswear-inspired tailoring does not fit into the story that is told again and again in the place.

Once again, I wait for Paris.


Photos via

The Leftovers: London Fashion Week FW13

When I first started with all of this, I often overlooked the London season. Mainstream, American fashion magazines were my initial textbooks and for many of them New York and Milan and Paris were the only real players. It wasn't until years later that I began to pay close attention to the London shows. Now many of my favorite designers make their homes there. Erdem and Christopher Kane and Burberry and Mary Katrantzou.

Revisiting the Fall/Winter 2013 London season reminded me again why the city's offerings are often among my favorites.

As always there were themes that ran from city to city. Fur was featured heavily much as it was in New York.

At Todd Lynn

At Mulberry

At Felder Felder

At Belle Sauvage

At Peter Pilotto

At Duro Olowu

Houndstooth, glenplaid, herringbone, and all of their various cousins were the patterns of choice.

At Richard Nicoll

At Sass & Bide

At Zoe Jordan

At Daks

At Emilia Wickstead

Suits were still the outfit of choice.

At Charlie May

At Orla Kiely

At Malene Oddershede Bach

At Holly Fulton

At House of Holland

Boxy shapes still dominated.

At Peter Pilotto

At John Rocha

At Heohwan Simulation

At Antonio Berardi

At Lucas Nascimento

And black was seen in all of its various iterations.

At Felder Felder

At Yulia Kondranina

At Marios Schwab

At Richard Nicoll

At Eudon Choi

At Roksanda Ilincic

But another color also made a mark. On the opposite end, winter whites, stark and nearly blinding, were seen in coats and sweaters and dresses.

At Pringle of Scotland

At Markus Lupfer

At Alice Palmer

At Simone Rocha

At JW Anderson

At Temperley London

But mostly London was just London. Full of prints and patterns. Quirky and playful and imaginative in all of the best ways.

At Julien Macdonald

At Tata Naka

At Dans La Vie

At Holly Fulton

At Peter Pilotto

At Emilio de la Morena

At Louise Gray

At Duro Olowu

.


Photos via