Prada, Blumarine, Versace

Pretty busy week and I could not really catch up on London and Milan Fashion Weeks until this weekend. Due to the late posting, I will be writing my reviews in separate parts to give me enough time to (at least) look at all the collections and focus on the worthy highlights. Nonetheless, I had the feeling until writing this first part of the Milanese fashioin week that I did not miss that much. It feels like this season is definitely below everyone’s expectations – and overall a none event. But I could always count on major fashion houses such as Prada, Blumarine and Versace to show some interesting or promising collections for Fall 2010. And in between we had a very constructed Fendi collection yet chaotic and tasteless, a quirky and playful Moschino Cheap & Chic but cheap over-dominated the collection, DSquared2 was simply the worst collection I’ve ever seen with a full-on and repulsive vampiric/gothic theme, Gianfranco Ferré’s intriguing minimalist/sophisticated show and Emporio Armani’s 80′s look that is so outdated this season. So far I did not catch any strong trends like I did for New York fashion week, however give me more time to look at all the details and I’ll bring you some tips for next season.

Prada

Miucca Prada is one of the rare designers I always enjoy to follow season after season without disappointments, even though I let a few hiccups slide. Prada is one of those talented ones, who can twist any type of look to make it unconventional but with the ability to arrange it into fully wearable clothes everyone is envious of. The theme of the season was definitely late 50′s and 60′s, with an atmosphere very Jackie-O and Mad Men with tweed peacots suits, A-line leather skirts, cat eye glasses, classy-updos, vintage prints and shiny plastic brown coats which really stood out in this collection. Then at some points the show became a bit gimmicky with the revisited librarian look that would probably not attract lots of her clientele. Otherwise it’s a quirky collection, elegant and well-structured with a major noticeable move by the designer. The emphasis on the bust was clearly obvious by amplifying the breasts with ruffles or pointy cones, which was remarkably a nice direction and quite fun to watch. I bet the stylists had to be very creative to fill in the bras on the models.

Blumarine

The popular saying is usually “Less is more” but Blumarine’s designer Anna Molinari disregarded it to prove that “The more the better” for commercial success. How did it translate? Blumarine’s Fall collection was a full-on animal prints with suede and shiny embroideries highly inspired from Balmain and Isabel Marant. Undoubtedly, this show could have been the tackiest mess of all time but the styling was just so perfect that it looked ridiculously and unexpectedly great. Lots of zebras prints and fringing made the show, and watching the collection a second time whispered me that Brigitte Bardot would have killed it in Blumarine. The only sad note were the dresses at the end- out of place – don’t understand what the tulle dresses were doing in a show heavily dominated by strong fabrics such as leather.

Versace

Hit and miss! That’s how I would describe Donatella Versace’s show. Far from her S/S 2010 show where glamour, pastel shades and tiny body-con dresses were “de rigueur”, the designer followed another path by continuing the futuristic theme she presented for menswear a month ago. Unfortunately, her collection was not as strong, missing what could have been a great show. Heavily geometric, minimalist and sexy (I’ve seen some nice cut-outs), the tailoring felt somewhat not refined or too uninspired (example the boots are the big failure of this collection). And it went all wrong when colors started to pop-out from the darkness. Yellow, white or orange did not fit well, as well as other prints. The gowns at the end were actually stunning and smelt Versace-esque – as usual – but they felt like a collection in the collection. In my opinion, the last dress for example is the worst dress of FW so far, but the first looks were sensational. Which lead me to hope that next season will be way better and stronger if she continues that path.