Land Girls. Max Mara SS24

September 22, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

This season, we see designers reflecting on global socio-economic unrest by looking back at the war-time moments of early 20th century. That certainly happened too at Ian Griffiths‘ Max Mara. Formed during World War I and mobilized anew for World War II, the Women’s Land Army recruited up to 80,000 females to farm while Britain’s men took up arms. Along with the women working in munitions factories, as nurses, in auxiliary military service, as air raid wardens, and in many other vital non-combatant roles besides, the so-called Land Girls were a vital part of the war effort. By fortunate necessity they also in part catalyzed the emancipatory precedent for women to take their place in the workforce. The Women’s Land Army proved a fertile source of inspiration for Griffiths. The spring-summer 2024 collection that flourished from it was cultivated rather than rustic, but it contained many authentically researched touches while also working wonderfully as a luxuriously utilitarian woman’s wardrobe for now. Bill Cunningham bleu de travail in various garment-dyed shades of cotton was applied to long Monty Don-style work jackets, backless narrow-cut apron-front pencil dresses, double-kneed narrow-cut work pants, and bellows-pocketed and epauletted shirt-skirts and overalls. The palette pivoted to rosy pinks as Griffths pruned his hemlines high with patch-pocketed hot pants under a tunic and a romper. Gorgeous leather-edged canvas gardening bags and bridle-leather binocular cases were tucked under the arms of high-waisted green blousons and washed cotton wide-lapel varieties of Max Mara’s heritage-specialism coat. A wide-gauge knit jersey in green featured irregular cotton patches on one shoulder and the opposite arm in tribute to the source-era’s make-do-and-mend ethos.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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It’s a Party. Diesel SS24

September 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Diesel show had a lot to say. But in the end, I thought Glenn Martens lost his focus, as the collection went in too many directions and roamed into pure entertainment. But then, Diesel is the go-to brand for hedonism. As the first models came out in his artisanal-industrial shredded and devoré denim outfits, the rain started to slice with gusto through the spotlit area above the huge runway that stretched long into the huge crowd (the free tickets that had been made available online – first to 1,500 students from Milan’s universities, then to all comers – had been snapped up in minutes). Dieselized parodies of old-school movie posters appeared on the garments, which in majority were distressed, acid-washed and double layered. Close fitting ruched jersey or lurex dresses, some of them traced with the external outline of underwear, acted as loose human pastiche of the Oscars statuette. But it also read very Mugler. Destroyed tuxedos, half red carpet and half apocalypse, were the masculine counterpoint. Artisanal pieces included dresses handmade in shredded denim or burned mesh. Several models were caked in grayish ochre mud that matched the tone of their looks. As the last model walked, statuette-esque in a flowing black silk skirt and bralette/scarf combo, the rain suddenly cleared. The finale – and then four more hours of partying – followed.

Nowhere and Everywhere. Etro SS24

September 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

At Etro, three seasons in, Marco De Vincenzo is gradually finding his groove. He starts to navigate around the brand’s vast archive pretty well, with all its troves of rare fabrics and prints. “It’s weird how the imagination brings you to places that somehow you can’t describe,” he said. “The magic of the temples of Angkor Was, a scrap of beautiful brocade from the 18th century… the mind travels through memories and suggestions, mixing them together with no logic or rational hierarchy, and lands instinctively in fabulous places with no name.” He called his spring collection “Nowhere“. De Vincenzo’s audacity and quirk was the glue that kept the collection cohesive, despite its visual jumble of graphics and handsome textures. “But there are no citations, no recognizable attributions, everything comes to life in a magical no-place,” he said. Not afraid to confront challenging shapes (swirling trailing hems sneaking awkwardly around the ankles), unexpected juxtapositions of volumes (XXXL leather blazers worn over equally humongous tent-like strapless circle dresses) and redundant intricacies of construction (an abundance of twisting, knotting, braiding and slicing), De Vincenzo is carving a distinctive niche of cool for Etro, bending its codes into a spirited, vital, visually compelling rendition. The diverse, refined casting, sophisticated grooming and imaginative styling only added to a convincing performance.

Classy. Fendi SS24

September 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

At first, I thought that Kim Jones‘ Fendi collection for spring-summer 2024 is mediocre. But when Alexander Fury wrote that this is exactly what the Fendi woman should look like, I had a second glance at it. Jones isn’t reinventing the wheel at the brand, but he’s certainly building a contemporary and very coherent vision of the house and its client. Never fussy, rather understated, but not “just” minimal. Yesterday’s chapter was informed by Karl Lagerfeld’s spring 1999 show for the house and its powerful practicality drew from the Roman women – not least the Fendis and their closest professional cohorts – with whom Jones interacts when serving this brand. His collection was acutely and minutely designed to generate impact through detail, fit and finish. Mannish mohair tailoring (including skirts) was stripped of all visible closures and fittings, then cut with arms designed to be turned up, plus waistbands switched inside out, as if snaffled from a minimalist uomo’s wardrobe. Knitwear blouses, cardigans, skirts and dresses were architecturally entangled with each other against the body, creating striking new forms from conventional ingredients. Rib knits were expanded into a sort of jumbo-jumbo shearling corduroy, slightly flocked, used in a section of oversized work shirts, coats and split skirts. A paper-like, shiny-finish linen was used to fashion a cut-away dress in the same canary yellow that featured in that Lagerfeld collection 24 years ago. Nostalgic, but not daunting; rather, nostalgia that looks towards the future.

Men’s – Turning The Page. Giorgio Armani SS24

June 19, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Generally in 2023, and at the point of his career, Giorgio Armani is kind of punk. And appreciation his fashion – or rather, style – is punk, too. A blank page and a pencil: such has been the starting point of every Armani collection since 1975. Today, the Italian designer brought that moment of beginning to this collection’s moment of publication at his Milan showspace, via the pointed inclusion of an extremely large pencil at the end of his runway. Armani drafted his menswear masterpiece decades ago, but the cycle of fashion means that it is constantly subject to revisions, elisions, alterations, and edits; every season sees a new layer placed over the one before. The spring-summer 2024 one contained a direct reference to his very first menswear collection in the close up print of raffia weave used in roomy blousons, pants, and bags, but that archival gesture was not the point. “The collection surely recalls the past, without making it all about the past,” he said afterwards. The long, almost shirtlike cut of the light jackets had the same fluid elan of those famous pieces worn by Richard Gere so many years ago. And the four suits that closed this otherwise very holiday collection contained some silhouettes that any long-in-the-tooth Hollywood rep will fondly recall from his glory days. However you could just as easily conjure the image of this collection being worn by a new generation, in a new context, with stories of their own to tell.