The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
MILAN, Italy — Can a collection be designed by committee? It's an open question. Diego Della Valle recently declared that the era of superstar designers was over. Yet, a product without an author remains, well, just a product: lifeless and anonymous. It was apparent at the Salvatore Ferragamo show yesterday. The brand has been doing without a creative director since Massimiliano Giornetti's departure earlier in the spring. His team remained in place. But the resulting collection was lost in a middle ground between the past and the future.
Salvatore Ferragamo Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
The remains of Giornetti's thoughtful precision informed the strong line up of tailored safari jackets and demure blousons accessorized with sneakers and sneakers/sandals. But the effort lacked a twist, even a faint one: the touch of personality Giorgetti managed so subtly to infuse. That said, the collection will easily translate from catwalk to store, with no adjustment necessary. It was ok, but just so. As for quirk and true desirability, Ferragamo needs a creative director soon.
Sunnei Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
ADVERTISEMENT
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina, the young guns behind up-and-coming label Sunnei, came to fashion via marketing. Their catwalk debut yesterday was a catchy, jolly and well orchestrated line up of ironic separates that looked like the perfect modular uniform for a party at the madhouse. Although not designers, and albeit clearly commercial in their aims, the two have vision, and a sense of humour, which makes a difference.
Missoni Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
Angela Missoni, meanwhile, continues expanding and exploring her idea of the nonchalant adventurer. The Missoni man is a charmer who favors en plein air scenarios and clothing that is wonderfully arty in texture and pattern whilst looking wonderfully easy in terms of use and practicality. Which, somehow, is both the plus and the minus of the label. At first glance, each collection is more or less always the same. On a closer inspection, though, patterns and even shapes evolve endlessly. This season, the voyage landed in the countryside, amongst hat-wearing cowboys and gauchos, keeping a multicultural tingle: bermuda shorts appeared on the runway, together with scarves worn like sashes around the waist. It worked: the collection felt upbeat and catchy, only a tad monotonous.
Moncler Gamme Blue Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
Monotony is always the byword at Moncler Gamme Bleu. Thom Browne, ever the well-to-do prankster, likes repetition. A lot. Each season he explores a theme this way and that, to the point of visual saturation. This time, his summer camp inspiration gave fuel to an absurdist foray into boy scout regalia, complete with outsized pockets, shorts and protective rainwear. Due to the offbeat, awkward proportions, it all looked deliriously funny, but as it is generally the case with Browne, the humor was killed by the intensity of the repetition. Jokes, you know, are more effective when they are short. As for the return on investment of an experiment like this — amusing, yet commercially pointless — within the Moncler empire, the question remains unanswered.
Damir Doma Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
Damir Doma chose to present his men's and women's collections together. The decision worked to his own advantage, making the message — poetic brutalism — strong, poignant and immediately felt. It's a matter of coherence. Doma knows how to handle a progressive show format. For a start there is the androgynous aesthetic: Doma has been an early champion of gender fluid styles. Second, there is the tribal mentality which comes attached to his work, focused on line and texture. In this sense, mixing men and women is natural to him. Yesterday's show saw Doma upping the ante on underground grittiness while not forsaking a certain gentleness. The friction of such opposites felt vital and primal, while the oversized shapes had both ease and precision. So far, this was Doma's best show since his arrival in Milan one year ago. It feels good to have such a personal voice added to the local fashion conversation.
Marcelo Burlon Spring/Summer 2017 | Source: Indigital
[ View CollectionOpens in new window ]
Marcelo Burlon is another early adopter of the mixed-gender fashion show. There were men and women literally running on the County of Milan runaway to a live drums performance at yesterday's show. It was an energetic outing, and not just because of the music. Burlon knows how to create a catchy fashion vibe. The collection was the usual, hyper-visual mash up of slogans and signs splashed onto punky urbanwear. This time, it had a palpable ninja/fetish vibe. This did not reset the fashion agenda anew but a bunch of additions — gothic lettering, bright tracksuits, elongated sleeves — evidenced Burlon's ability to catch whiffs of fashion's current preoccupations and give them his own spin. Appropriation is creation too.
