Milan sputters the trends of spring and summer 2008, weaving a mélange of moods, colours, decades and regions.
Flowers
Of course, flower prints have never stopped being trendy since they came into vogue. It happened a long time ago when fashion itself didn’t exist (fashion as an industry was created by Charles Worth in the late 19th century). In the times of Marquise de Pompadour fabrics with rose bud, cornflower and gillyflower design were immensely successful. Compare to the 2-century old flowers prints of the coming spring appear much bigger, bolder and more blurred. It’s the way objects appear if you look at them really closely. Looking at each petal in turn, the designers seem to disintegrate them and then bring together again ("6267", Missoni, Versace). In this way amazing natural beauty enriches the aesthetics of the digital age.
Origami
Colourful details of Japanese, Chinese and Korean costumes were a base for the leading designers’ creative mix. They’ve made up a world of new Asia for the spring-summer season 2008. For many years Europe has actively explored the heritage of Indochina. Sushi and kimono stopped being exotic and became everyday life. This means it’s time to discover Asian culture from the inside. Ferragamo introduces origami bags and heels shaped as lotus flowers; Alessandro dell’Aqua uses obi belts; Antonio Marras and Malo both implement appliqués reminiscent of the traditional Japanese décor; MaxMara makes suits that look like the uniform of the participants of the cultural revolution; Еrmanno Scervino introduces a kimono bomber and origami platform heel; Prada and Antonio Berardi both use oblique Chinese buttons. Not only the evident femininity and decorativeness of Asian clothes inspire the designers. They’re much pleased by quick development of Asian luxury market. Every significant catwalk show is attended by impressive hordes of Japanese and Chinese buyers. Ignoring this fact is simply not sensible.
1950’s
In search of the ideal expressive style designers turned to history of fashion and concentrated on the mid-20th century. The undisguised bourgeois character of the 1950’s with their immaculate courtesy and a habit of changing outfits three times a day perfectly matches the 2000’s with their tendency to gentility and perfectionism. Anyway, noone can say that "at least it’s pretty" is not a reason enough. The designers interpret the shapes and silhouettes of the decade with new fabrics.
The theme of careless femininity can be found in collections by Prada, Blugirl, Luisa Beccaria, Sonia Fortuna and Gaetano Navarra. In spite of the prudent skirt silhouettes, pastel colours, bold flower prints and sugary naiveté, these outfits are impossibly attractive! More sexual charge is added by 1950’s-style shorts. Cividini dressed their models in hotpants with a short top or jacket.
Ethno
Can you imagine a summer without yet another tribal wave? Hardly, because it will be cold, grim and rainy. Not wishing this to happen, we’ll follow the advice of Milanese stylists and will try on bright Aztec mini-skirts by Etro and search for leopard prints by Blumarine, Just Cavalli or Gucci (Dolce&Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli decided to pass them this season). Colours and fabrics of the black continent are yet again suggested as main elements of style. The collection by Aigner has been conquered by the deserts of Marrakech: a python and calfskin saddle bag, Bedouin pants and a catsuit from luxurious silk jersey, ochre colours of earth and sand – in a word, a contemporary interpretation of safari style. "The desert has this light, reflexes, animals – it’s all so versatile that one simply can’t get bored", says the brand’s designer. We’ll check it next summer!
Modern art
Many decades later Bulat Okudzhava’s appeal has finally reached the fashion people: "Painters, dip your brushes…" The brushes, however, have not been dipped into "the hustle of Arbat backyards and dawn", but rather into the thick of notions of how modern art should look like.
The designers set about the task so enthusiastically that a half of their collections could just as well end up at the MOMA. Frida Giannini (Gucci) has made a fabulous bubble dress from white and black stripes – the essence of pop art. Carl Lagerfeld (Fendi) explored the circle theme in the same style. A dress with red and black bull’s-eyes is mostly memorable. Multicoloured geometrical shapes are put together by Matthew Williamson in his collection for Pucci.
Marni designer Consuelo Castiglione continues the visionary experiment with geometrical shapes and overwhelmingly bold accessories. Missoni is true to their fascination with abstract art and its chaotic mix of matching coloured stripes. Prada designers painted their dresses with fabulous pictures, so imaginative that they would make even Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt proud.
The guests of the Dolce&Gabbana show were nervously counting the designer’s expenditures, having seen the 7 mind-blowing hand-painted dresses. Other items of the collection were painted in the same way. The designers said that the collection will be of limited availability.
Vladimir Gridin
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