Milan Fashion Week

Pop colour, cute prints and detailed craftsmanship, next summer garments are looking molto molto fun!

Stylish women walked the Via Montenapoleone last week for Milan Fashion Week clutching the latest Fendi leather. Just teasing for Australians begging for summer, the 28-degree heat on a generous Autumn day in Milan created the perfect mood for a Spring-Summer Collection show. Italian designers did not disappoint with the choice of colours, bright and bold piled atop one another in layers of beading and detailed prints.

There were fewer trends on the Milano runway when compared with London Fashion Week, but there was definitely more consensus concerning how women were to look next season – bright, colourful, happy and bubbly. Summer in a dress. There was an overall 1950s housewife vibe – at Jil Sander, Raf Simons gave his models helmet hair, veiled hats and 60’s style jewellery with an emphasis on the classic white button-up.

Designers took a ‘don’t worry, be happy’ stance at Milan Fashion Week through colour, print and craftsmanship, writes

Most brands in Milan still have healthy sales figures and that’s reason alone to be cheerful – which the Milan Fashion Week collections most definitely were. There was nothing angsty or conceptual in sight, simply vibrant, beautiful clothes ready-made for la dolce vita, which was also evident off the catwalk. Miuccia Prada took this subversive housewife influence to a new level in her Women and Car Engines collection, where the prim wife becomes modern and a little too independently minded. They were put in their boyrfriends’ bomber jackets, emblazoned with hot-rod flames, a little risqué from Prada, far from the classic pleats and chiffon skirts emphasised in the remainder of the collection.

Fendi’s version of the housewife was more traditional with plenty of clean whites and stripes and an obvious architectural influence. Armani built on this monochrome idea with hooped skirts and a very strict art deco allegiance.

The typical 1950s housewife would have been much more savvy, particularly in the current economic climate, but the financial pressures were kept at bay during this fabulous week of extravagance. Bulgari threw a soiree in the garden of its own hotel to launch a collection of bags and jewellery, Marc Jacobs launched the revamped Louis Vuitton store and Trussardi celebrated its centenary in Milan’s 14th century Castello Sforzesco… A week to remember.

[Photos: Imaxtree, Giorgio Armani / spring rtw 2012 Gianfranco Ferre Spring 2012]