Milan Fashion Week Report: Memory, the Future, and How We Dress Now

Bottega Veneta was the show of Milan Fashion Week for me. Backstage Matthieu Blazy said he wanted to “make a monument of the everyday.” It’s such a great soundbite, a six-word exegesis of the job of high fashion—to make things that we can simultaneously aspire to and live in. Blazy was focused on silhouette first and foremost, emphasizing rounded shapes like the couturish, cocoon coat that was the show opener, but he also worked on some novel prints, which he divided into two groups: the “memory” prints that were made from layer-upon-layer of passport stamps and the “future” prints lifted from blank pieces of loose-leaf and graph paper.

It was an uncanny choice. Milan can feel a little bit stuck between its past and future, with designers revisiting and revising their own work, or if they’ve inherited a heritage label, trying to light their way forward by resurfacing the glories of its past. Blazy, with his fount of ideas, belongs firmly in the future camp. On the subject of the future, I’m looking forward to seeing where Adrian Appiolaza takes Moschino. Appointed as creative director in January—a little over three weeks before his show!—the Argentinian designer who spent a decade at Loewe is coming at the brand in a fresh way, mixing the camp icons it’s best known for with, yes, some cool clothes for everyday.

The announcement that Glenn Martens’s Y/Project show in Paris was canceled came early in the week, a bit of a heartbreaker for his fans, and another reminder of the challenges emerging brands are facing. (His Diesel show was a blast, by the way.) Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana deserve a shout-out for the platform they keep giving up-and-comers from the UK. Being a New York-Milan-Paris reporter, I miss out on all London action, so I get a lot out of the rotating series. This season it was Feben’s turn. I liked the long, lean print dresses as well as her signature puckered-fabric Twist dresses, and the way she put women of all sizes on the runway. Size diversity shouldn’t be a box you check one season and then forget about, and all over again we’re not talking about how thin most models are. Luke, Tiziana, over to you.—Nicole Phelps