TBT: Dolce & Gabbana AW04

July 27, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Today, looking at a Dolce & Gabbana show hurts. The brand’s recent strategy to lure rich millenials through casting Instagram stars for their runway is, politely saying, ridiculous. Also, I don’t feel like writing much about Domenico and Stefano‘s pride in dressing America’s First Lady, or the latter’s drive for dramas and beefs on social media. But, even though it’s hard to believe it in 2017, Dolce & Gabbana used to do fashion. And really good fashion. Autumn-winter 2004 season is a great example of that. Inspired with Helmut Newton’s photographs and muses, the designer’s collection was about a hedonistic, ultra-chic, dramatic, yet powerful woman. Lots of sheerness, romantic lace, sassy fur, seductive satin – that was extremely Dee-Gee at the beginning of the millennium. The models – from Stella Tennant and Mariacarla Boscono to Nadja Auermann and Karen Elson – killed the audience with their walks.

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Men’s / Gameboy. Prada SS18

June 19, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

“They are hand-drawn, human, simple and real. Even if they contain of course all the worst fantasy, they look simple. . . . They are little fragments of life, which is what you get now from the information, the media: So I was more and more attracted by them. Even if I never liked them.” What’s Miuccia Prada talking about this season? Comic books!

The venue of the spring-summer 2018 fashion show was all covered in James Jean’s and Ollie Schrauwen’s graphics and prints, presenting some utopian, subverted reality – a reality, that has always been Prada‘s fantasy. The pieces covered in comics illustrations, like bumbags and knits, will surely end as the season’s most coveted pieces of Prada maniacs. Miuccia associates reading comics with young boys, that’s why the Prada gameboy went for geeky Velcro straps, a collar-up shirt and lots, lots of nylon. Childhood naivety in pure form: the boys are happy with their gaming achievements, while wearing red pants and sandals with socks. But Prada doesn’t want her male customer to infinitely fall into infantilism. Note the voluminous, wool coats. “Everything was a little bit too naive, too simple, so we thought these heavy coats would be the right counterpart. That is just fashion—because we love it.”

One can’t ignore the fact that it was the first men’s Prada collection in a while lacking the women’s looks. As the female part got a separate resort show a month ago at Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the guests had to focus solely on menswear. Surely, that was the aim of the brand’s management – to some extend, you rather got more ecstatic about those few dresses and gorgeous pumps than the line-up of suits. But showing both men’s and women’s clothes in a show used to be Miuccia’s vision, so…

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s / Out of The Studio. Marni SS18

June 18, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Although Francesco Risso‘s third collection for Marni wasn’t well-received by the critics, his spring-summer 2018 collection works like a charm as for me. The collection has a lot to do with Marni’s main house-code: utility-meets-edgy. These clothes are the right fit for men, who like it slightly too big and comfortable simultaneously- but not falling into passé normcore or the up-and-coming corpcore. For Risso, style is arty, most of all. That’s why he invited octogenarian ceramic artist Magdalena Suarez to make prints for his intriguingly tailored shirts. I doubt any artist wears Marni while painting or sculpting – but the “out of the studio” look matches the label’s sophisticated aesthetic. Some of the styling indirectly refers to Prada (Francesco used to work for Miuccia) or Raf Simons kind of appearance – see the striped tank-top worn with a man-skirt hybrid or the slouchy voluminous suits. But who isn’t inspired with these two nowadays?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki (backdrop featuring Joan Miro’s ‘Self-Portrait’ from 1938 & Ugo Rodinone’s ‘Clown’ sculptures).

In the Osservatorio. Prada Resort’18

May 8, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Time is understood differently, but the fashion industry has the most abstract sense of it. Although Miuccia Prada doesn’t put her newest collection into a specific season, let’s face it: we’re heading towards resort 2018, a summer pre-collection, that will hit the stores just before Christmas.

(And it’s May. A very breezy May. Spring-summer 2017 collections are hitting the stores, like, right now.)

Ironic, yes. But the collection is remarkable. Prada chose Galleria Vittorio Emanuele’s attic-like Osservatorio space, which is just above the brand’s historical flagship boutique. With an enchanting view at Milan in the background, the models walked the runway wearing every pastel colour possible. From soft pink to light lilac, Miuccia revisited her signatures in springish tones: intricately embellished sheer sheaths, femme-fatale coat-dresses, nylon tousers, feather headbands. All the components, that make the sophisticated and modern Prada woman become reality, not just a designer fantasy. Miuccia invited James Jean – the same artist who did the iconic fairy prints for the brand in 2008 – to work on accessories and mini-dresses, injecting this already cute collection with rabbit illustrations. But was this collection that cute, though? Not really – nerdish knee-lenght socks and pointy shoes reminded everybody, that Prada is about ugly chic, after all.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Stangeness and Charm. Marni AW17

February 27, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Francesco Risso is Consuelo Castiglioni’s successor at Marni, and yesterday we’ve seen his first collection for the brand’s womenswear line. He used to work at the design studio of Miuccia Prada, so no wonder why off-beat femininity is rooted in his aesthetic; leading Marni, Milan’s most avant-garde house, means that he needs to communicate the way Castiglioni did. Mixing contemporary with old; unconventional prints (most likely, really bold florals) and strangest textiles; experimenting with the garment’s silhouette. In his autumn-winter 2017 collection, Risso checked all the points with success, sending a line of models sashaying in synthetic, fluffy furs, colourful raincoats and heavily sequined dresses (best in the brightest shade of turquoise you’ve ever seen). But Marni is also known for its architectural approach to footwear, whether we’re speaking of platform sandals or ornamented heels. Francesco achieved the ‘beautiful ugliness’ with mid-length, patent boots, elevated by fur sticking out at the top.