Milàn l’è un gran Milàn (Milan is great, Milan is always Milan) intoned the famous 1939 refrain written by Alfredo Bracchi to celebrate the greatness of the Italian city.
After a parenthesis that I would not define dark but rather opaque (probably due to an upheaval in the fashion sector and the rules that determine its new nature) the Milanese city, temple of the Sciure, has returned to shine with a different light, mainly connected to the enhancement of (more or less) new talents.
And a special mention must be made to them because thanks to coherent, contextualized and non-rhetorical collections they have signed a remarkable moment for the international system, giving life again to MFW: Family First, Jordanluca, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Federico Cina, Dhruv Kapoor.
Well then, without further ado, let’s talk about the five brands that, in my opinion, have left their mark (for different reasons) during the current season, reinforcing their identity (and authenticity, which today I would define as a plus).
5 – JW Anderson
Jonathan has accustomed us to pindaric flights and exquisite abstractionism strengthened by conceptual dynamics that tell a story, trace a path, are never an end in themselves.
And so everyday objects become sarcastically indispensable elements in next winter’s men’s wardrobe. It is a social cross-section, a post-Hitchcockian Rear Window.
4 – Magliano
Giacomo Leopardi, Martin Heidegger, Søren Kierkegaard: the FW23-24 collection by Antonio Magliano is a tortuous journey into the deepest meanderings of the human soul.
It is an existentialist essay that defines Being and Time, today. It is the cruel definition of an ancient and modern man who finds in his wardrobe the way to define his identity.
He is an austerely colored man, with dark pastels.
3 – Fendi
A smoothie of eras, emotions and substance: there is the glamour of the 40s and the disco of the 80s enhanced by the clean lines and the harmoniously geometric cuts that have always characterized Silvia Venturini Fendi‘s work.
It is a non-rhetorical collection that redefines the very concept of stylistic freedom (and why not, of individual expression), pushes it to the extreme without ever falling into the easy traps of too much and vulgarity.
It is a Trompe d’oeil collection in which the 3D dimension is the perfect balance between an elevated frivolity and a timeless elegance.
2 – DSQUARED2
The surprise that the twins of fashion Dean and Dan Caten (there are them and the Olsen sisters) gave us can only be described as surprising.
Sexy, fun, pleasantly showy: the FW23-24 collection is an imaginative hybrid that embodies the innermost desires of the Generation Z (and beyond). On the catwalk Magic Mike(s) are the protagonists of Legally Blonde (chapter 2). In its confused wildness there is equilibrium, and (mainly) there are the 2000s, Paris and Nicole.
1 – Prada
A return to the origins: Prada reminds us what fashion represents.
The collaboration between la signora di Milano and the Flemish designer Raf Simons reaches a vertigo-inducing climax.
It is a discreet return to a minimalism devoid of past nostalgia but aiming with calibrated power at a renewal that will set trends (in the best tradition of the brand).
Silhouettes are emphatic, amplified and attenuated, exploring extreme vicissitude between couture volumes through the architecture of the clothes.
The graphic shards of print and knit will be the new must have.