Monday, May 6, 2013

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

Thursday, May 2, 2013

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