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Audacious fashion contrasts
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MAX Mara is inspired by Scandinavian ideas about democratic design, while Prada’s crocheted bras spoke of a woman’s handiwork and suggested a bygone protest era when women shed theirs. And Moschino’s seasonal fashion provocation claims, “Couture is an attitude. It is not a price point.”
Max Mara
The Max Mara manifesto for next fall and winter is to keep it essential.
Designer Ian Griffiths said in notes that the concept was inspired by “Scandinavian ideas about democratic design,” meaning things should look like what they are.
The rigorously monochromatic looks comprised luxury basics of a deceptive simplicity that ran the spectrum from dressy to sporty. The looks were completely void of any decorative touch, and the only contrast was derived from the pumps, from nude to metallic to white, or bags.
The battle horse of the 65-year-old label continues to be the overcoat, appearing also in hybrid forms of camel hair tailored with shearling and knit, or the youthful cardigan coat.
The silhouette was defined by the long pleated skirts and loose-legged trousers peeking out from the overcoats, paired with sheer matching knit turtlenecks.
Moschino
Watching a Moschino show is like playing a parlor game. And the answer to this round appears to be: Things that get thrown out in the trash.
Jeremy Scott’s seasonal fashion provocation was exclaimed on the T-shirt he wore for his end-of-show lap: “Couture is an attitude. It is not a price point.”
If the show was making a bigger message, it would be a screed against throw-away consumerism, a paean for sustainability. The clues started with an invitation: a piece of yellow paper printed like a piece of cheese in a mouse trap.
The designer’s creations were dressed up as things we discard every day: Packaging, bubble wrap, trash bags, rubber gloves, dry cleaning bags, old lamps and even a Persian carpet. Handbags were in the shape of a lone sneaker and toilet paper rolls. A series of coats, dresses and suits in packing-paper tan were printed with typical postal phrases: This side up, handle with care, fragile. These were followed by bubble wrap dresses with silver accents. Then there were a series of looks that appeared to be made from the pages of discarded fashion magazines.
Gucci
In his two years heading the Gucci label, Alessandro Michele has created collections that looked as if they were pulled from an attic trunk. Sheer blouses tied at the neck with a bow, floral suits and proclamations of love accompanied by tiger motifs are instantly recognizable as his. If Michele’s work to date has been concrete with clear references, his latest collection was otherworldly. The ambitious, sometimes extreme, collection of 120 looks was viewed through a glass-encased breezeway, a passageway that served as the crossroads for bygone eras and ones yet to come. A pyramid stood at the center, topped with a rooster weather vane, seeing which way the fashion winds blow.
Prada
Miuccia Prada officially disavows connecting fashion with politics. So let the clothes speak for her.
Her latest collection had clear echoes of the protest movement of the 1970s, interwoven with references to today’s protests asserting the rights of women and native peoples. Prada’s theme: Seduction, and questioning its relevance. And the implicit question: Is this all deja vu all over again?
Of course if you ask Prada, she will deny it all.
And yet: Crocheted bras spoke to a woman’s handiwork and suggested a bygone protest era when women shed theirs, even burned them. Furry parkas with full hoods and Eskimo boots, beaded accents and trailing feathers referenced Native American cultures still fighting for control over their resources.
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