This year again I have admired, from afar, Milan Fashion Week.
Obviously, it was circus madness, some influencers and the usual front rowers looked some caricatures off of the floating carts of the Carnevale di Viareggio (which, if you don't know, is as majestic and celebrated as the one in Venice and a bit less creepy). As a reminder, we arrived in Milan after HM the Queen graced Richard Quinn's front row sitting on a plastic throne next to Dame Anna Wintour. I couldn't help but thinking
Dear London Fashion Week,
the bar is high now, what are you going to pull off your sleeve next season?
As for Milan Fashion Week, I had to work hard and use my investigative tricks to make the Fashion magic happen. I had to zigzag through mediocrity, cliches, starlets turned V.I.P.s of their own little world donning borrowed looks from designers whose name they barely knew how to pronounce correctly.
I said it.
My skills didn't fail though (if you follow me on Instagram you have had a preview), the search proved itself to be exhilarating and the result is a selection of talents as intoxicatingly promising as your birthday cake. Designers like Luisa Beccaria, Arthur Arbasser, Erika Cavallini, brands like Blaze', Manfredi Manara, Lodental, The Gigi are some of those talents that we know in Italy but I don't see in the American circuit as much as I would like.
Looking at the runway shows, the show notes whenever I could land an eye on them, and always craving for creativity, I found a fil-rouge, a big conversation with a lot of points that leads to a renaissance of Italian style, as it was highlighted by this detailed article on W Magazine.
The Loden coat is a staple of every Italian kid, the Fay sport jacket exists pretty much in every man's wardrobe, the blazer, a "Borsalino" which is how we address a felt fedora hat, still now that it's no more. And in honor of true Italian style, it doesn't stop at clothing, it extends to food, design, arts, jewelry, accessories. It may run in the family (if it's noble you know for sure), like with the Visconte di Modrone and Perego di Cremnago, or be the creation of newcomers like LA-born Milan-adopted JJ Martin of La Double J or Nicolo' Beretta of Giannico who convinced his parents to use college money to invest in his shoe collection.
Now follow me here: I have a quote here that I wrote down because relevant and smart, but nobody to attribute it to. I love closing this article here, good bye for now.
“old clothes, shredded, mended, torn apart as they could be from years of wear, still hold their soul and their dignity.”