Emporio Armani Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

The Emporio Armani collection was pretty and upbeat, just what an uptown girl needs. A short fur or leather jacket, loose pants which narrow at her feet, a draped top and of course a glitzy dress for the night.

Armani played with textures, colors and shape. Techno-materials were used next to more traditional textiles as organza, wool and velvet. Colors were typical Armani-style: taupe, dove-gray, beige, slate and cloudy gray. Although the brick-orange was quite surprising  and didn’t do it for us. But maybe his growing Asian market will love it.

Throughout the collection we noticed a refined exchange between masculine and feminine, which is typical Armani. Jackets, pleated at the back, were made of organza, a chalk stripe waistcoat took the place of a T-shirt and shirts evolved into featherweight ultra-feminine tops.

DSquared Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

Phew! That was a hell of a collection and show at DSquared, especially after such a trendsetting show at Prada.  Men put in cages of glass, models landing at the runway behind the bars of an old elevator, elektro-disco yelling and clothes that looked like twin-brothers Caten revisited The Matrix.

They took the successful movie as one of their reference points, but also manga and Jekyll and Hyde. The result was a dark sci-fi collection full of black leather, latex and red details (underwear, gloves, legs).  It was all about shape and a sharp silhouet softened by fur-coats. There were some nice pieces: a leather and wool trench, some tailored jackets and a chic Forties-style dress, nipped at the waist and cut with a wide neck. Hopefully they will make the pencilskirts with a split before they hit the stores, because models could hardly walk in them.

Extremes were the high heels with spines as the heel, veins in blue and red drawn at a nude top, metal chains and bones-accessoiries.

Prada Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

You don’t wanna fight with the new Prada-woman. She looks sensuous and very elegant in her 50’s housewive dresses, but she’s in control and self assured. She is who she is.

This was yet another Prada-collection which leaves you distressed and thinking about what was going on. Someone called it retro-future, severe chic or restraint meets assertiveness,  I would call it women breaking free. Disturbing jazz filled the room and the models were walking down the runway with beehive-hair, bare faces and in prim dresses with high pointed shoes.

Take a closer look and you see the silhouette of the breasts sticking out, push up ruffle bra-dresses and a glimpse of knitted collars at chic coats and LBD’s with a plastic ruffle. It was exciting to see fuller-figured girls at the show – Doutzen Kroes and Lara Stone a.o. – who walked secure and celebrated their femininity. Interesting were the sweater-dressing – a blue cable knit at a full cable knit skirt – the dark 50′ prints and the rubber coats in camel. The collection was about sex appeal, but in Prada’s world, it’s not about baring all. It was conservative, sometimes almost funereal, except for the suggestive, exaggerated focus at the bust.

Hopefully the thick knitted knee-highs and maillots don’t itch too much, because they add just that edgy touch to the outfits. Especially worn with those fragile looking patent leather shoes.

Fendi Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

Karl Lagerfeld dared to combine two big fall trends in his Fendi collection: fur and patchwork. His patchwork fur coats came by in all shapes, sizes and colors. Yet none of those coats convinced us that the combination of fur and patchwork will become a huge hit. Especially not the first one, in white, gray and black. It looked like a mix of a panda- and a dolphin suit and didn’t do anything for the model’s body. Other patchworks in hues of beige, camel and brown were better, but never stunning. It just seemed very unnatural to combine so many different types of fur in one design.

Front row guest Rachel  Zoe must have loved the show, though. Karl introduced some waistcoats in fur as well. And we’ve seen Rachel Zoe in one of those quite often…

Karl’s waistcoats were worn on top of long, loose-fitting skirts and blouses with wide sleeves. Brown waist belts finished the looks. A beige coat with matching dress, made from a fabric that resembled an enlarged corduroy, caught our attention. And the color pallet of green, brown and mustard yellow appeared to be lovely.

Towards the end of the show many black dresses were shown. In these dresses lots of texture, as well as some see-through fabric could be seen.  The dresses were transparent in all the right places and had just the perfect length. They looked elegant and feminine and were sexy enough to make some of the men at that cocktail party look twice.

Streetfashion Milan FW2010 Day 1

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Balenciaga-heels, your latest Marni-dress or that vintage YSL? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Milan.

Just Cavalli Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

At today’s presentation of the Just Cavalli winter collection it was clear this line is aimed at young customers. Primary colors like blue, red and yellow were visible in almost every look. They were there in some leopard printed house pants and on a few crazy printed leggings. Even the fur on some coats came in those colors. Besides, some of the skirts and dresses were pretty short, teenage short you might say.

Fortunately Roberto Cavalli was able to add some sophistication to his collection as well. He designed some romantic, transparent blouses with ruffles on the neckline and on the sleeves. Yet we didn’t really get the sort of bib he added on top of those blouses. It had it’s own ruffles and details and seemed to be tied at the models’ backs.

The crazy mixing continued when we saw wide belts, matched with short skirts and small jackets with pointy shoulders and fur collars, all in a different print.

By adding some tartan prints, multiple fans, necklaces with huge pendants and several patchwork sweaters Roberto Cavalli proved he dares to experiment. Though we admire his courage we advice to combine his items with more basics.

D&G Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

The D&G-girl won’t get a cold that easily next winter. She can dress head to toe in sexy, comfy, warm Nordic knits with a pair of big furry snow-boots at her feet.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana continued the ski-theme of their menswear-collection for next fall, but without the thick, blown up ski-wear. Their womens-collection was all about the big sweater – worn like a short dress with a belt-, shorts, vests and overalls in Nordic patterns (red, black and white). The pattern even turned up as a print on their jeans. The knits were not bulky, but more streamlined – and sometimes very tight – and mixed wonderful with the airy dresses, long skirts and blouses.

Of course this was a true commercial collection, but with lots of stuff to love. Ski-fashionistas will go for the glitzy ski-goggles, while a citygirl will love the warm vests, big bags and snow-boots. We’ll leave the furry bloomers and strapless, knitted tops for the advertisements.

Blugirl Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

The Blugirl Fashion Show started off fresh and kind of angelic as the first few models appeared dressed in ivory (cream) shades from head to toe. Yet through the angelic image the Italian spirit of the brand was very clear as well. Models in animal printed dresses with matching gloves and headbands reminded us of that. Plus: the heavy use of embellishments like studs, crystals and sequins looked perfect for any Italian (Blu)girl.

Since knitwear was the starting point for the collection the clothes had a lot of texture. In one look you could have a heavy woolen coat with a floral patterned skirt combined with a legging in another graphic design.

We thought some of the chunky knits resembled fur, but according to the show notes they were even meant to replace fur. This ‘fake fur’ could be seen on many of the sleeves of the woolen coats.

After the animal prints the cream shades were mixed with dresses in gold lamé and clothes full of silver sequins. Then the collection turned a little darker. First gray, later on black.

We saw black knitwear combined with some sequined outfits. It also formed a nice combination with some black see-through lace. Some of the gray/black dresses, jackets and leggings were dip dyed.

All models wore multiple necklaces and two elastic bands, one at the beginning of their ponytail and one halfway. Some girls wore a sequined headband.

After all the black, the cream shade popped up one more time for the final, ‘bridal’ look. The last model wore a cream lace dress and a matching fur coat. On her head she had a tiara, in her hands she held a bouquet. It seemed like the perfect ending of a cohesive, textured, feminine and very Italian Blugirl collection.

Milan Catwalk Fashion fw2010: shoppinglist

While the fashion circus is traveling to the next stop – Paris – we thought it might be helpful to give you already a sort of shopping list. You’ll never know what you might run into during the sales !

Milan was all about slim suits in techno fabrics, mixed with bulky grandpa’s cardigan’s often used as a coat and a rough knitted aged sweater. Military style is back, especially in coats – look for navy duffels in blue, aviator-jackets in black/shearling, the Monty-coat and officer-coats in army-green with golden buttons.

Black is still the new black, but also all shades of gray. The darks are often mixed with rich colors as purple and burgundy. New are camel and off white, mixed with buttery yellow.

It seems men will have their own legging as well, regarding the many long-johns we spotted in the collections. It was a favorite of Dolce & Gabbana and maybe for some women, but we’re not sure men will like them. At home yes, outside hmm (maybe only underneath a comfy ski-overall). Instead of a long-john look for a slim, too short pant with or without ‘cuffs’.

The rough look is perfect with the military boots, beautifully aged at Burberry, polished at Bottega Veneta. Fans of modern classics can stick to the Gucci-loafer. More accessories: an Italian cap, berets and an army-bag.

One of the main messages the coming season is layering: a T-shirt, a denim shirt, a jacket, a cardigan or two, something leather, silver mesh or glitzy (like patent leather, or plastic). The style moves between polished Seventies style (like Prada), Fifties playboys (Gucci) and ageless rockers turned businessmen.

Streetfashion Milan fw 2010

What are you wearing during Fashionweek? Your Burberry-boots, your latest D&G-vest or that vintage YSL? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashion-weeks we refresh our streetwear-category regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Milan

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