Gucci

With Alessandro Michele nothing is only about the clothes even if it’s about Gucci clothes at the end of the day. He challenges himself to align his shows and collections with a philosophical idea. Here, he was playing with stereotypes about masculinity like macho behavior and at which moment they take shape in a men’s life. “I looked at my childhood for this collection to find the innocence,” explained the designer backstage. He had cleverly taken a new show space at Milan’s Fiera and not at the Gucci hub on via Mecenate to bring new energy and built a bombastic Foucault pendulum in the middle of the space, which swung out in 360-degree direction to symbolize the movement of the earth. To make clear Gucci is still at the center of the fashion world? The success story continues and will be fueled by this collection which was the usual mash up of torn denim, exaggerated tailoring, long coats, lots of shorts and even little girl’s dresses. Well, a little boy might just put on his sister’s clothes in a playful attempt to explore the other sex. As this was the show concept, there were also bags, which looked like put together from wooden geometric children’s toys and other infantile references. Ultimately, this collection succeeds because each look is a collection in itself like a green Loden coat worn with brown pants and shiny loafers which looked like the style of aristocratic Romans or a shrunken green sweater over a cardigan jacket in brown paired with color splashed roomy jeans which evoked grunge.

Fendi

Fendi cleverly embraced black leather, which has been trending on runways and is not really owned as a look by one brand yet. Bottega Veneta features it heavily but Fendi made it all its own in roomy jackets and high-waisted pants worn with sleeveless vests. Another big trend, the big chunky boot on platform soles – in German called Knobelbecher – was featured here on many looks with the pants stuck into the boots for maximum effect. The slightly military tone of the leather was tempered with pant skirts, which looked a bit strange but effectively balanced the aggressive vibe. Beautiful tailoring with inside pockets and lining details on the outside made the suiting look fresh.

Fabio Quaranta

Fabio Quaranta, known as a creative enfant terrible on the Milan scene, celebrated his tenth anniversary with a show in a cool, old garage and a live singer on the piano. The simple work wear looks with chunky boots often created from dead stock – in one case even custom-made clothing which was not picked up by the client – all had a lived in patina, a signature look for Quaranta. By styling the shirt collar over the jackets, the looks had a nice louche feel to them. The cool and creative Milan art and gallery crowd was present.