Milan Fashion Week opens with focus on youth

Milan fashion week kicked off on Wednesday with collections from Italian
labels Grinko and Blugirl setting a youth-orientated tone for six days of
catwalk creativity. Blugirl, the sexy younger sister of designer Anna
Molinari’s main womenswear brand Blumarine, served up a typically
irreverent, mix-and-match collection on the opening morning.

Bohemian romanticism was to the fore in the form of 70s-style off-the-shoulder
tops with puffball sleeves. But the look was hardened sometimes with biker
boots and sharp fringes helping to create a ‘rock chick’ edge, while a
military theme was balanced out by ultra-feminine, delicate touches
including frilly neckties. Next up were newcomers Wunderkind, the
youth-targeted branch of Germany’s Joop which is one of three Milan
debutants among the 71 catwalk shows
scheduled between now and Monday.

A photo posted by Milano Fashion Week (@cameramoda) on
Sep 20, 2016 at
3:02am PDT

Paris-based couture star Giambattista Valli has shown his own younger
line, Giamba,
in Milan before but Friday’s show will be the first time it has been included
in the official programme. The other newcomers are Chinese label Ricostru,
the latest up-and-coming talent to benefit from the patronage of Giorgio
Armani. They will display their 2017 Spring/Summer collection on Monday at
the Teatro Armani, which has been entirely given over to young designers in
a move
that has been branded something of a gamble.

Armani himself usually presents his main collection on the final day of Milan,
thereby helping to delay the departure of hundreds of buyers and media for
the next leg of the global fashion circuit, in Paris. This year however the
veteran designer is showing his main line on Friday and his Emporio Armani
collection in Paris, generating fears the whole circus will decamp to the
French capital on Sunday evening, after Dolce and Gabbana’s afternoon show.

Carlo Capasa, the head of Italy’s Chamber of Fashion, defended the
decision. “I have a very high regard for young designers and I think it is
right that we have a day just for them: the day of the future,” he told
reporters.

Gender-bending

Alessandro Michele’s latest offering for Gucci was set to be the highlight
of an opening day on which Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli and Philipp
Plein
are also showing.The future of fashion’s system of twice-yearly menswear
and womenswear
shows is up in the air because of trends towards unisex collections and
clothes being made available to buy immediately, rather than four months
after
the catwalk show.

A photo posted by Milano Fashion Week (@cameramoda) on
Sep 20, 2016 at
1:26pm PDT

For Milan that could have significant consequences. “The indirect benefits
to the city of the last fashion week in September were estimated at 48
million
euros,” said deputy mayor Cristina Tajani, who said the industry could do
more
to help its host city.”We have done our bit by putting some of the city’s
symbolic venues at the
disposal of young designers for their shows,” she said, urging fashion
houses
to get involved in organising events that are accessible to the general
public
rather than just fashion insiders.

Capasa said his organisation was already doing that. “We are putting a lot
of emphasis on the special events that will take place in the city in
parallel with the shows,” he said. One event that will be strictly
invitation only will be Bottega Veneta’s show in Milan’s Academy of Fine
Art. For the first time in its history, the couture house will show its
menswear
and womenswear collections together amid the artworks to celebrate its 50th
anniversary and designer Tomas Maier’s 15 years as its artistic
director.

Gucci, whose look has taken a gender-bending turn under Michele, has
already announced it will show its men and women’s collections together from
September 2017, as has Antonio Marras. (AFP)