Humorous fashion and attractive models dominated the opening day of Milano Uomo Moda, the Italian men's fashion season, with fun co-ed shows from Moschino and Dsquared2.
DSquared2: Body heat near the Duomo
Titled 'D2Heat', Dean and Dan Caten's latest collection celebrated the beautiful body. While so many brands treat models as cannon fodder for social media, DSquared2 advertises and trumpets them, as well as their golden moment of youth.
So much so, that Dean and Dan even printed a black and white theatrical program listing all the models with individual photographs along with photographs of five brilliantly polished dancers who opened the show. It was performed inside the Teatro Lirico, the Lyric Theater of the much admired Italian balladeer and composer Giorgio Gaber. A dramatic theater from the rationalist era that, by strange coincidence, was also the location of Mussolini's last public appearance.
Benito, we are pleased to report, would surely have been shocked by the routine of the quintet of dancers, bumping and grinding, grabbing crotches and breaking the routine with their overtly sexual gestures. The five were eventually mounted in glass cages that hung above the stage throughout the show.
And for this brave statement of tight, sexually liberated style from Dean and Dan. From the beginning, naughty, long-legged damsels in cut-out flamenco dresses and exposed bras; or super skinny jeans topped with cutout mini corsets. For men, leather biker jackets were worn over bondage straps and bare torsos.
Ever the creators of puns, the Catens labeled a shirt with the word 'Catenacci', in a clever play on the Italian term Catenaccio to dedicate highly defensive football. A timely inside joke as Italy begins the defense of its European football title at Euro 2024 on Saturday night.
The show was also a welcome reminder of the Canadian duo's tailoring skills, especially the bright BIPOC-style Latin pants cut with pleats and acreage of leg. Driven by a medley of Prince tracks, this was a great power pop vision and statement.
The invitation to the spectacle of two mouths about to kiss read: “This package is full of love.” And one imagined that most of this cast would end up in bed with someone pretty soon.
Moschino: trompe l'oeil and tencho
Moschino's latest collection was presented inside a disused factory in the north of Milan, beloved by fashion lovers for the juxtaposition of the dingy location with the new clothes.
The collection marked the second for Moschino from Argentinian Adrian Appiolazza, who was named creative director of the house in January.
In its womenswear debut in February, it played with multiple Moschino codes and continued the shorts approach with menswear.
Appiolazza has an excellent, if eclectic, resume, having worked at Loewe, Chloé, with Phoebe Philo and Clare Waight Keller, and Vuitton and Miu Miu, with Marc Jacobs and Miuccia Prada.
And many of those brands seeped into this collection, from Anderson's intricate, twisted cotton summer dresses at Loewe to Jacobs' thrift-store aesthetic.
This Buenos Aires-born designer also took advantage of Franco Moschino's obsession with trompe-l'oeil: sporting Prince of Wales trenches; Fabulous fake suspenders on grandpa shirts and cool shirt jackets.
Franco Moschino was always an expert tailor, and Adrian respected this with stylish safari jackets (labeled Survival Jacket) and some tailored men's suits for women. Along with jackets featuring the Italian tricolor flag overprinted with soccer balls, scheduled for hosts Germany's opening match of Euro 2024 on Friday night.
Franco's favorite image, the heart, also appeared on some cool giant bags, while a series of soft fabric wallets featuring pizza slices were suitably absurd.
But the collection lost steam in the final third and began to feel recycled like the piles of cheap second-hand luggage around which the cast walked.
Too many traces of fried eggs; or bushwacker-style dresses that seemed more weak than extravagant.
An otherwise fun show that fizzled out.
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