Best In Show: Favorites of Milan Fashion Week S/S 2022

I always look forward to the spring shows, for me it is a sign of optimism and hope of the new year ahead. As famed fashion editor Candy Catts Price once said, “September is the January of fashion.” Milan is the dichotomy of spring in every way, sun and liveliness pour into the streets; the cobblestones of Lombardy coming alive with the steps of models and editors seeing what the hysteria awaits in the venue. Milan is not only a fashion capital, but like always a sex symbol of its on volition, oozing gaudiness and luxury proving it is just as Italian as tomatoes.

This season, there seemed to a be a refreshing take on the throwback trend, the city took us on a week long vacation to the 60s and 70s. Psychedelia and denim galore were the rage, Studio 54 meets Woodstock. In between we took trips to the salons of Paris and felt the musings of Cristobal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent. Here are some my favorite shows of the Spring/Summer 2022 collections.

Fendi

Kim Jones has proven he has made a comfortable and fervent transition into his role as a creative director at the Italian giant. The collection was a throwback worthy of a Halston tribute, with colorful furs and archival paintings by 70s illustrator Antonio Lopez adorning sequined dresses and leather boots.

This Fendi girl, is more free. The structured white ensembles at the beginning of the show slowly transitioned into a colorful crescendo, finally dying down into dramatic blacks with romantic lace.

Remnants of Bianca Jagger and Jerry Hall filled the looks with spirit while allowing Kim and Silvia Venturini Fendi to elaborate on the future of the Fendi girl.

Versace

Donatella. The name is a noun, a verb, and an emotion. With the first in-person runway show since Covid struck, the expectations for the queen of Italian fashion were high.

The collection seemed a like a return to the basics, but with Donatella there is always a twist. Scantily dresses and sets fastened with a vivid array of the classic safety pin. The looks later evolved into a tango of leather, latex, and picturesque baroque silks. The menswear was alive in neons and a streetwear edge defined by baggy pants, oversized graphic vests, and voluminous suits fitted for a downtown man.

The models later pranced down the catwalk in the signature Versace chainmetal to Dua Lipa’s current array of hits (who also made her runway debut as well).

Blumarine

While Milan seemed to all be in mood to take the Ferrari down memory lane, Creative director Nicola Brognano deviated a bit away from his usual Y2K palette and offered his army of teenage girl fandom a view of a hyper 90s girl.

Bright neon flowers, frilly tulle blouses, and a cry of flower power all seemed to reference the oughts of 90s fashion icons such as Anna Sui and Betsey Johnson. The butterlfy, the logo of legend Mariah Carey, played a role seeing as how her iconic Emanuel Ungaro top was remixed into a denim version. The denim also paying history to Foxy Brown and the iconic blue-jean dresses of Dior S/S 2000.

Roberto Cavalli

‘She is woman and hear her roar’ was the common phrase uttered by the collection curated by creative director Fausto Puglisi. Fausto, like all new directors right now, takes majority inspiration from the namesake of the brand. Honoring the classic delineation of cutouts and hallucinatory animal prints.

The looks at the beginning find themselves in an urban jungle, tiger and zebra layered on top of large suits and dresses, the menswear somewhat homoerotic with enamored leathers and tiny swimwear under oversized robes. There was a brief period of romanticism with floral patterns but that was quickly halted with fetish-like bandage dresses and sequined animalistic sets completed with dramatic capes made for theatric occurence .

Ultimately, there was a sense of glamour but readiness, easy but still weighty looks that defines the Cavalli woman as one who lives on thrill.

Missoni

In the tradition of new creative directors, this season was the debut for Alberto Caliri who mentored under Angela Missoni herself. A slaw dunk first day out is hard but Caliri proved himself capable.

While the 70s seemed to be a uniform stimulus across Milan, Caliri brought the sexy back channeling a more sensual use of the house’s autograph of patterns and stripes. Tiny bikinis, sequin mini dresses, and bellowing pants paired loose knit tops, seemed somewhat transportive to a vintage Avedon photograph. Knit slips fashioned in carefully tattered draping were found to be the real scene stealers, perfect for swaying on the dancefloor to the best of disco.

Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini

Lorenzo Serafini takes us on a journey to the 90s while the week was a voyeurism into the late 60s and 70s. Nodding to the elevated aesthetic of “boho-chic”, quite common in female figures of the era and a signature for designers like Franco Moschino or Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

There is a sense of Spanish fantasy, the floral jackets and fringed leather boleros coupled with delicate chiffon and lace, inspire thoughts of running with bulls and sensual tangos. We start seeing this theme slowly drift into a glamorous hippie nomad with loose knits made from funky trippy prints and worn in cardigans. This woman evolves into a chameleon of chainmail and lace, finally settling into a range of white that is defined by passementerie and youth.

Marni

Florals for spring may not be groundbreaking but they sure can mindblowing when it comes to Francesso Risso, he manages to explore the inner child and the playfulness that fashion sometimes seems to forget. There is a childlike innocence with remnants to oversized rubgy polos and dresses looking to resemble a young girl playing dress-up in her mother’s closet.

The collection seemed to be androgynous in essence. There were both mens and womens’ pieces but constructed in a style that is suggestive of a time before we understood gender binaries. Flower motifs accosting dresses while baggy leather jackets and blazers offer the more masculine perspective. Rompers and bodysuits give an ideal to the 1940s while the texture of floral detailing has a calling to the surrealism of the 60s albeit Pierre Cardin or André Courrèges .

Pucci

Following in the theme of the drug that is new creative directors being injected into the bloodstreams of iconic fashion houses, this was the premiere collection of former Dior and Louis Vuitton designer Camille Mecile. Pucci has taken an unexpected makeover in customer trajectory, become a rising favorite of influencers and young starlets. The new Pucci girl needs a wardrobe befitting of a modern woman: sexy but not too much, playful but still serious when she needs to be.

The looks dawned on the fact of a new director at the helm. Nodding to a certain minimalism that is a far cry from the Peter Dundas days. Monochromatic architectural mini dresses and cropped shirts paired with mini skirts seemed to be the main attraction. From Pucci you expect bracing patterns and ornate shapes but instead you got a cleaner palette. Camille focusing more on the framework of the body rather the decorations on it.

There was still the classic 60s Pucci flair of imagery but this season marks an improved brand, one focused on how less can be more.