Reviews

Men’s – Luca Guadagnino and Gardening. Fendi SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

When Luca Guadagnino does something, I just can’t ignore it. The A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria director got invited by Silvia Venturini Fendi to be the guest artist behind Fendi’s spring-summer 2020 collection for men. Fendi and Luca have a long-time relationship: the brand notched associate producer credits on I Am Love, for example, and the two worked on a short film for the label. Guadagnino loves fashion and puts focus on it in his films (remember those Dior by Raf Simons clothes Tilda Swinton wore in A Bigger Splash?). So his vision for the Fendi show felt as if he put his signature, sun-drenched filter on it. Presented  in the gorgeous garden of Milan’s Villa Reale, the collection was a nod to gardening and being close to nature. The gardening looks are too pretty to work in, but still, you can fantasize about wearing one of those outfits to check on your carrots: olive-green outerwear with detachable pockets and delightful short-sleeved overall with suede patches, accompanied by clipping baskets, watering cans, and garderning gloves (all with barely visible, Fendi logo). There was a utility vest in botanical-print-organza-clad strips of shearling teamed with a multi-compartment tool bag in leather. Luca and Silvia also came up with soft tailoring with split-hemmed pants arranged around floral-print ties, swimwear teamed with slashed cut-out knits and washed workman’s denim that came sometimes leather-patched. Brilliant.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Truman and Che. Marni SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

Francesco Risso moved big topics in his spring-summer 2020 collection for Marni, but in his typical, poetic, metaphor-filled manner. A fishnet was hovering about the guests’ heads, full of plastic debris collected from the oceans and from waste. Called Act1, the show was a conscious approach to engage in a deeper conversation on ethical values and a sustainable fashion practice: “We are here today to confirm our position in the world and to move towards action,” said Risso. “Let’s be vocal about our beliefs.“The designer has been implementing sustainable thinking into the brand for the last few seasons, but this really was a statement that hopefully will bud into real consciousness at the Italian brand. Even though you could expect exhausted eco warriors walk down the runway, Risso sent down a line-up of looks that sparked joy. It was a marriage of Truman Capote and Ernesto Che Guevara, beauty and rebellion. Marni’s rebels wore fabulous, crazy ritual totem-hats, made by artist Shalva Nikvashvili outof stuff that could have been easily thrown away to the trash: scraps of paper, feathers, plastic, fur, leather. The clothes as well had sustainable origin, to some extent. They had a sense of carefreeness, but weren’t ridiculousor clown-ish. Safari suitsweresplashed with brushstrokes, and cashmere and alpacas were patchworked with plastic and brocades. It all blended into a rather non-chalantly elegant,layered wardrobethat would be the fitting uniform for the Truman and the Che in an ideallypeaceful, eco-utopia.But you know what? I can equally see those clothes being worn in real life.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Tactile. Gabriela Hearst Resort 2020

| Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst‘s resort 2020 shows the essence of her brand: fabrics and tailoring. The pre-collection features aloe linen (that moisturizes the skin), a hand-knit as weightless as a feather, macramé detailing spliced between the pleats of minimal dresses and skirts, finest cashmere used in coats… all of this is really  an exercise in luxurious tactility. Meanwhile the tailoring surprised with an interesting development: the jackets were gathered and tied at the waist, not with belts but via construction. So, a sort of invisible belt. The ones with artisan fringes looked sublime as well.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Getting Better and Better. Bottega Veneta Resort 2020

| Design & Culture by Ed

It’s been 11 months since Daniel Lee‘s arrival to Bottega Veneta, and it seems he’s there for, like, forever. Throughout this short time, the brand received big love from clients, who never bought at Bottega before. And it seems that the success isn’t solely rooted on the absence of Phobe Philo. Lee and his team prove this in the resort 2020 collection, which is sublime in every aspect, from bags to clothes. Leather accessories, whether in the brand’s signature intrecciato weave or not, are so good. Just look at the wrist-slung, tightly knotted bag in blue or orange strips of soft matte leather, or the sandals in fake snake, which featured three and a half encirclements of leather strip that ran upwards (these worked to cinch Lee’s expertly cut wide-leg pants and were complemented by similarly functioning bracelets). Clothes are a delight, as well. Whether we’re speaking of the draped leather dress in orange worn by Maria Carla Boscono or all the trench coats that appeared in the look-book, it’s a dream wardrobe. Minimalism and top knotch craftsmanship aren’t a novelty, but Bottega Veneta and Salvatore Ferragamo get that balance especially well in Italy today. Better start saving…

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Italian Goodness. Salvatore Ferragamo SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

I’m still in absolute awe. Salvatore Ferragamo‘s spring-summer 2020 collection for men (and resort 2020 for women) was the best thing I’ve seen for a while in fashion. It was that good. No fashion show has ever been allowed in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria before. The view had to be really, really impressive, noting that the models walked in front of David. Plus, comparing to other shows we’ve seen this month, this one had a real sense behind the location: Florence is the company’s home. Now, fashion. Paul Andrew and Guillaume Meilland have already proved that they’re a good match for Ferragamo in their previous. But this one was their best. I fell in complete love with all the jumpsuits the designers sent down the runway – especially the one in deep purple, with a zipper and a belt at the waist. The perfect balance between utilitarian and Italian elegance. Something you would love to wear to your vineyard in Tuscany. I adored all the leather pants and shorts, too. The colour palette, mainly mint, lavender and ochre, was a dream. There’s beautiful tailoring as well as pajama pants. While using the so-called “rave” sunglasses sounds like trying too hard to impress the younger audience, here they looked properly cool. Just wow.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.