Face masks may have been the standout
accessory at Milan fashion week, but designers who defied the coronavirus
pandemic to put on shows dispelled gloom with love letters to Italy and
sunnier times.
The week ended Sunday with Valentino, which had moved its catwalk from
Paris this season as a show of support for an Italy devastated by the virus
earlier this year.
Here is a round-up of the top three Spring-Summer 2021 trends:
Click Here: Putters
Italy my love
Whether or not people will be permitted to travel to Italy next summer,
they can be transported there through their wardrobes.
Dolce&Gabbana paid homage to the designers’ beloved Sicily, with a
patchwork collection evoking the island’s warmth and colours, while Etro was
inspired by the picturesque Amalfi coast.
“I started the collection during the lockdown,” designer Veronica Etro said
before her show.
“Like everyone else, I was at home doing housework. And my mother and I
restored an old record player and started listening to old Neapolitan songs,
and we were bewitched by the serenity, timelessness and elegance.
“Then I started thinking about a trip I made in 2019 to Ischia, Capri,
Naples and Positano, and — maybe because we were feeling so patriotic then —
I thought, okay, let’s do the collection in Italy,” she said.
Silky caftans in sorbet colours, patterned bikini tops and straw hats
suggested walks on the beach before enjoying chic aperitifs.
Pucci instead headed for the island of Capri, distilling the fashion
house’s signature prints and ’60s silhouettes — including its famous Canzone
del Mare pattern — in pastel sheer silks and organzas.
Max Mara’s creative director Ian Griffiths thought not of seaside pleasures
but summer in Italy’s art cities and the Renaissance, with hexagonal motifs
mimicking the mosaic floors of the country’s cathedrals.
Retrospection, reinterpretation
The nationwide lockdown also appears to have prompted Italy’s luxury brands
to dust off their archives and reinterpret key pieces from the past.
Versace led the way, with Donatella Versace building on Gianni Versace’s
“tresor de la mer” collection for Spring 1992, with its starfish, coral and
seashell motifs.
At Fendi, the collection was inspired by the finely embroidered household
linen owned by designer Silvia Venturini Fendi’s family.
Over at Marni, coats made from up-cycled pieces from previous collections
were then hand-painted with words that designer Francesco Risso collected from
exchanges he had with friends and his team during lockdown.
Dolce&Gabbana used remnants of fabric from previous seasons to lower the
environmental impact of their show.
Lockdown lazing
It was an oft-heard debate of lockdown: does not leaving the house mean you
can stay in your pyjamas all day?
Italy’s designers gave an out to those reluctant to suit up: Armani
proposed silk sweatpants, while Fendi paired outfits with slippers.
Etro encouraged lounging in caftans and nightgowns, while Max Mara indulged
slouchers with hooded sweatshirts.
And Valentino provided the cherry on the home-comfort cake with a surprise
collaboration with Levi’s that produced a coed model of the 517 boot cut jean.(AFP)
Main images: Etro SS21, Catwalkpictures