Peter Hawkings‘s sophomore collection for Tom Ford leaves you with a hard pressing question: what’s Tom Ford without Tom Ford? Unfortunately, the designer who used to work with the legend doesn’t reinterpret his legacy, but tries to mimic it, imitate it, in a very commercial, unreflective way. And that doesn’t work. The autumn-winter 2024 collection, presented in Milan, is bared of any emotions or feelings. What’s the point of all these proper, handsome peacoats and party dresses if there’s no charisma behind them? Some AI generator could do a far more creative piece of work. If Tom Ford, the brand, wants to thrive, it can’t move forward in such uninspired manner. Or else it will lag.
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The first day of Milan Fashion Week was hard to watch: messy and silly-looking Diesel where the Y2k-mania starts to feel stale; Kim Jones’ Fendi that left you with no impression (a worst feeling a collection can give); lots of Prada knock-offs and a couple of emerging Italian designers that literally have no direction.
A light of hope was seen at Etro – metaphorically, as the venue was bathed in darkness. Marco De Vincenzo‘s vision for the Italian label is taking shape. Sometimes, designers really need time to find the right balance at a brand. The autumn-winter 2024 show had huge, slightly disquieting effigies of masks inspired by Greek tragedies placed in the middle of the runway. The collection was called Act. “It’s that in my role as Etro’s creative director, I feel torn between authorship and interpretation. It’s a constant struggle that sometimes takes an emotional toll, yet it’s deeply generative. The masks are a symbolic manifestation of this inner turmoil.” The co-ed collection had an almost somber undertone, as if De Vincenzo had tried to unearth a darker, unknown side of Etro, bringing the brand along on an unmapped journey of self-discovery. Colors were muted, progressing from sensuous earthy tones to the intriguing depths of pitch black – a first for Etro, a brand which is usually affiliated with chromatic exuberance. But De Vincenzo is keen to experiment, and he feels confident and mature enough to chart new paths. His penchant for quirk can be both disconcerting and surprisingly fresh. De Vincenzo’s take on the brand is also much more radical and unapologetic rather than romantic. Silhouettes were kept fluid and unstructured, yet draping and plays on asymmetries read as a bold statement, counterpointed by oversized tailoring that had presence and charisma. “I’ve felt the need to raise the bar,” said De Vincenzo. “I sense around me the desire for more intensity in fashion, for a creativity that doesn’t have to justify itself but can just be, that doesn’t seek perfection, but rather emotional expression.”
Here are couple of my favourite Etro pieces you can shop right now!
Picture a 1970s, British suburban scene: an Marks & Spencer blouse with a delicate bow detail at the neck blows in the breeze on a washing line. Nosy neighbors living in rows of terraced houses peer at your clean laundry through picket fences. Well, that was the mood behind JW Anderson‘s autumn-winter 2024 collection. Jonathan Anderson is the absolute fashion mastermind when it comes to planting bizarre, irrational ideas and making them somehow desirable. Old-style English underwear and slippers. Grandpa coats. Even grandma’s gray hairdo became an avant-nostalgia accessory. “They’re hats!” he revealed. This collection certainly has to be read through an irony-tinged lens…
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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Simone Rocha‘s guest residency at Jean Paul Gaultier’s haute couture atelier definitely stayed in the designer’s mind for her label’s autumn-winter 2024 collection. “It was an amazing experience,” she told the press. “There were probably two main things I took away from it, which was to have that focus and attention to detail, and to slow down with each look. I found it really interesting to discipline myself to do that – and I really wanted to bring that discipline back with me.” The workmanship and the attention to detail when it comes to the embellishment techniques is also something she found exciting to elaborate on, that’s why majority of this season’s embroideries is handmade. Presented at St Bartholomew’s Church in Farringdon, the collection was entitled “The Wake” and was partly inspired by Queen Victoria’s mourning dress. There was plenty of sheer dressing, touches of faux-fur detail, exquisite capes and coats, and opulent-looking, ecclesiastical-inspired accessories. Corsetry – another take-away from JPG’s couture studio – ran through the collection too. Its delicate structure embraced the abdomen within tie-detail nylon parkas and rompers. Its contours defined the darting in little sheer jackets worn north of pantaloons, some of the many womenswear looks in which Rocha worked to place the models’ breasts on twin metal-beaded podiums shaped perhaps after lips. “There’s the perversity of being adorned, and cupped, in these organza corsets: it’s really stimulating on,” said Rocha.
A couple of my favourite Simone Rocha pieces, some even discounted…
Erdem Moralıoğlu is at his best when he leaves behind his comfort zone of florals and regality. In the halls of the British Museum, amidst the ancient grandeur of the Parthenon Marbles, a modern muse was reborn through imagination of the designer. As the autumn-winter 2024 fashion show progressed, a vivid homage to the American-Greek soprano Maria Callas and her iconic debut as Medea at La Scala in Milan unfolded. From the pea-green opera coat with its extravagantly exaggerated collar at the start to the same silhouette at the finale, this time strewn with a rose print on white satin, but quilted, almost like the memory of a 1950s housecoat, this certainly was an exuberant Erdem moment. In between we had the designer’s extended tribute to Callas, her greatness, her status, and style “almost as a pop idol of the ’50s,” as he put it. The complex psychologies of extraordinary women of the past have always been the fuel for Moralioglu’s layered design approach; the plots always blending into his own design narrative: a romantic, flowered, maybe raw-edged recasting of formal social-occasion dress codes. Callas’ wardrobe – the tiny-waisted, full-skirted dresses; draped scarf necklines; swing coats – were in full force. Carmine red dresses, roses attached to the toes of slingbacks, as if thrown at her feet onstage, and then satin pajamas and shoes evoking marabou slippers were yet another hints we are looking at a modern-day interpretation of a legend’s wardrobe.
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