Fendi, Del Core lead the return of the Milan fashion runway

MILAN (AP) Italy’s fashion capital comes alive again with the sound of shoppers swarming boutiques and editors filling the socially distanced fashion week venue, a sign of light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Milan Fashion Week opened Wednesday with 42 live runway shows and 56 live presentations, the biggest attendance since the pandemic hit Italy 19 months ago, slapping during fashion week. Adding a digital presence, 146 brands participated in the six-day mostly womenswear preview.

Signs of recovery are also visible in Milan’s largest department store, the recently renovated Rinascente, where foreigners are spending six times what they spent in 2020 when receipts plunged by around 70%.

In a clear signal that Italy remains dear to Chinese consumers, exports to the country have almost doubled during the pandemic, to nearly 6 billion euros from pre-pandemic 3.2 billion euros, according to Italy’s National Fashion Chamber, spending at home at least part of what they had spent on their overseas trip to Italy.

Highlights from the first day of fashion week:

FENDIS Echoes of the 1970s

The 1970s reverberated on the Fendi runway, with prints, prints and colors brought by modern silhouettes, during a second collection by womenswear creative director Kim Jones.

She looked glamorous like a pop star, with a large intarsia fur coat and knee-length boots worn with a miniskirt and sheepskin lined shorts. For a glamorous look during the day, a cropped pink satin cotton candy jacket is paired with wide-legged pants.

More simply, a silk trouser suit dramatically trailed the silent robe. The caftan is decorated with a brown swirl which is actually a hand-sketched Fendi logo that Jones found in the archives. Strapless satin evening dress with diagonal stripes with angel wings in the shape of a flower-child. Structured architectural jacket expresses sensuality. Pants, on the other hand, flow.

Jones said he wanted Studio e54’s revamped atmosphere from the height of the disco era, as he considered the legacy of his predecessor, the late Karl Lagerfeld, and the era when he first made it big.

Our lady has let go a little bit – she’s going out, dressed up. We’ve all been locked up for so long that I think that’s what we all need right now, says Kim, calling her Fendi multi-generational… for all different kinds of women.

The white monochrome is replaced by pastels, bright pinks and purples, softened gold, and finally black, with light accents and sequins. Hair is rolled into a tight bun or tousled, perhaps accented with gold heart clips, lightly folded like the wings of a butterfly.

This season’s bag wraps around the shoulder or wrist, with Fendi emblazoned in gold lettering at the bottom. The larger shopper featured an image of two women, one Black, one white, like a 1970s album cover.

DANIEL DEL CORES CLOUDS

German designer Daniel Del Core brings his dramatic flair into this couture-inspired collection inspired by a trip to the Costa Rican rainforest.

The collection projects an otherworldly aura, with models entering through the cloudy haze against a blue background, then continuing along a mirrored runway that the designer says is meant to suggest a collapsible skyscraper.

It speaks of an explosion of nature, color, very exotic, Del Core said of the second collection from his eponymous brand. For him, models are angels who emerge from the water with wet skin. They project serenity.

The muted, open-shoulder mini cocktail dress has dainty pleat details that provide subtle movement, worn with thigh-high pale pink boots. The longer version featured layers of diagonal ruffles, some left unfinished and trailing behind, worn with thick flesh-colored boots with sculpted heels. Satin pants are worn with a modernist bustier.

The drama is amplified by more couture pieces that include a large structural headdress, a dress with a large origami orchid sticking out of the neckline and sleeves dragging on the ground. Some parts are so complex that they take hundreds of hours to complete, Del Core said.

Del Core, former Gucci event coordinator, launched his own line last February after a prolific and imaginative pandemic lockdown.

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COZY Knit No. 21

Alessandro Dell’Acqua gave men and women what they needed to transition from their home pandemic existence: chunky knitwear with matching boots from the No. his 21.

I put all code no 21, it’s my obsession. There is a lot of knitting, embroidery and sheer. Men and women wear the same clothes, it’s not about wearing costumes, he said.

The one-shoulder crochet mini dress is accented with fringe details and complemented by knitted shoes, or more provocatively, the cut knit dress is worn over a rhinestone-studded bodysuit. For her, the white knit pants feature an open woven diamond pattern. The same pattern appears on sweaters and U-shaped miniskirts.

For both men and women, sheer trousers with fur trim worn in a slip-on with a plastic hem.

The ceiling colors are spot on: white, bare with a hint of bordeaux and black. “I want to use a little color to pay more attention to the material and the model,” he said.

Number 21 is back on the runway after showing digitally last winter. It’s not fashion week unless Pat Benatar announces Love is a Battlefield for the No. 21.

“We’re back to semi-normal. That’s something,” Dell’Acqua said.

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JIL SANDER GRAPHICS DEPARTURE

Luke and Lucie Meier lead fashionistas into a relaxing lavender-lit room for their Jil Sander runway show.

Their collection is a disciplined study, featuring a wide-shouldered jacket and combo pants accented by a stiff contrasting scarf.

There are also soft moments, like the cotton candy soft knit skirts and tops, and the hand knitted tops and dresses that, ironically, seem to be reinventing computer graphics.

The label, known for its minimalism, is slowly embracing prints and embellishments under the direction of a husband and wife team. A striped dress wrapped around the waist, and a tunic, including a beautifully embroidered blouse number, over trousers accentuated modesty.

Gold disc earrings accent this collection.

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GHALI FOR BENETTON

Italian rapper Ghali has signed a capsule collection for Benetton that blends his Tunisian heritage and Italian roots.

The 28-year-old Ghali said he had no role models growing up in Milan. Later, when he used Arabic chorus in his music, the second generation of young Arabic-speaking Italians was enthusiastic, telling him, Thanks to my music, the atmosphere in the school hallways has changed.

Now he hopes to help these same second-generation children and their Italian counterparts find common ground in his new capsule collection for Benetton. Ghali has taken over the classic Benetton octopus logo, embellishing it with a G on baseball caps and oversized hoodies. His name is in Arabic and the Arabic crescent moon is the motif on the front of the shirt or on the foot of the track pants.

For more stylish days, there’s a Varsity sweater and pants that can be worn with a pearl necklace too for her in an era that challenges gender codes. A nylon hijab as a stand-alone piece can be incorporated into any look.

We want to make clothes for my generation and for the streets, says Ghali. I’m not a designer, but I have a clear idea of ​​how I want to dress myself, my crew and my fans. This is an honest collection of everyday wear.