Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

The oversized jacket at Dries van Noten set the tone of his spring summer collection. No firework of colors, no frills. It turned out to be a quiet, almost poetic collection with elements of workwear (jeans, heavy cotton), chinoiserie (the kimono-dresses, flowerprints, the silk) and menswear.

Colors were light, almost etheral – the lightest tints of gray, yellow, pink and blue – slightly turning into heavier shades, there was also a lot of white, denimblue, marine and black. The mix felt very contemporary and cosmopolitan, like the high-waisted pencilskirts with kimono-blouses or the couture-like tunic with wide pants.

Dries van Noten continues to mix streetinfluences in his collections, like he did this winter with the armywear. It gives his soft voiced style a modern toughness.

It’s goodbye to Milan

Three fashionweeks are over, one is still left. Tonight we pack our bags and tomorrow-morning we’ll leave for Paris. Wednesday the fashionweek starts with Rochas, Gareth Pugh and Dries van Noten, and the 7th of october it’ll all end with MiuMiu.

For now it’s goodbye to Milan, the city we enjoy the most. Not only because of those friendly Italians, but also because of the great food. We take two big shoppingbags of foodies back home.

Roberto Cavalli Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

With his spring/summer collection for 2010 Roberto Cavalli celebrated 40 years in fashion. The man that brought us sexy, fluid dresses in all kinds of animal-prints,bohemian  rockstar-clothes in python or crocodile and the real Italian style did not opt for a retrospective show. He invited a lot of his favorite models though and some were even walking in the show, like Laetitia Casta and Natalia Vodianova.

The others, Nadege and Heid Klum, watched the show front row together with Taylor Swift, Leona Lewis and Elisabetta Canalis.  They saw a very condensed collection that consisted of four things Cavalli is known for: long fringes, long dresses, catsuits and python(prints). Hip-hugging bellbottoms and long webby skirts were worn with tops that left hips, back and bellies exposed. Underneath the models wore bikini-tops. They looked like tribal hippies with their flat ironed hair.

The collection had nothing to do with color or minimalism, as we’ve seen elsewhere in Milan this week. This was Roberto’s own trip and he used his signature elements well.

D Squared Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

It looked as if the twin-brothers Dean and Dan Caten had plucked all the fancy, chic citygirls from the street and put them on the stage tot show their spring-collection. The show was all about modern streetwear, the mix a young citygirl wears: something she found in her mothers closet, took from her boyfriend and bought herself at vintage store. She picked out oversized cardigans, tight bermudas, loose khaki’s, a suit and even mens-shoes plus old fashioned, printed scarves and golden necklaces.

It made a pretty collection of stuff you already know, it was nice to watch but the ideas were old. The late 60’s/early 70’s vibe (shiftdresses, long wide pants, shorts) gave it a more fashionable touch, since these periods popped up in other shows in Milan. There was hardly any color – beside the bags and some prints – the designers focused at khaki, black & white and blue.

Salvatore Ferragamo Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

On Sunday Massimiliano Giornetti showed his second women’s collection for Salvatore Ferragamo. He used the free-spirited, bohemian, gypsy feeling from the late sixties movie La Piscine for inspiration, which we think was a good choice.

His luxurious, yet relaxed collection started off with lots of nudes. Sexy swimwear, airy, floor-sweeping dresses, long coats and comfy (slightly flared) pants. Head scarves, simple necklaces, big bags and small belts gave all looks their finishing touch.

Halfway the show some pastels, olive green and dark slate grey gave a bit more color to the designs. Remarkable were the tummy revealing puffy tops shown through the whole collection, yet Giornetti made them in such a way they didn’t look cheap.

He ended the show with several sheer evening gowns which gracefully moved with every step the models took. A great ending of a chic collection with perfect designs to hit the beach in, yet also enough clothes for a day in the city.

Missoni Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

In a season where color sets the trend you expect a Missoni-collection to be a multicolored festival. In a certain way it was, regarding the hippie-like dresses with zig-zag, geometric patterns and colorful inserts. But on the other hand it looked a bit overdone too: and color, and the Missoni-signature patterns, and an African theme plus a Japanese/ Mexican vibe on top of that. The result was a more or less psychedelic collage of dresses.

Angela Missoni played with layering, pleating, fringing and embellishments like beads and sequins. She presented smocks, tunics, caftans and kimonos and mixed it all together. But the mood was energetic, hopefully Missoni is capable to transfer that to the customer and into the stores.

Versus Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

The Versus collection we saw on Sunday was nothing you’d expect from Donatella Versace. The Versace Teatro was decorated by old playground equipment and the ground was covered with real grass and flowers.

The clothes matched the playground equipment in the sense that they had an ‘old’ feeling to them. At the beginning they had blue, yellow and red plaid prints and several skirts and dresses were below the knee.

After a while the plaid details were alternated by tiny flower prints and later by stripes and bright colors. Most designs were a mix of many different prints. Especially when the color blocking dresses appeared we could count at least seven different shades in one dress. The shoes, glasses and clutches matched exactly with the clothes since they had the same kind of prints all over them.

Backstage Christopher Kane told the press that most of the prints came from the Versus archives. He and Donatella just upped the colors and elongated the silhouettes. And we think they did a wonderful job!

Streetfashion Milan Womenswear SS2011 Day 5

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Louboutin-heels, your latest Dries van Noten-jacket or that vintage Prada? 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 Fashion Week.

Streetfashion Milan Womenswear SS2011 Day 4

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Louboutin-heels, your latest Dries van Noten-jacket or that vintage Prada? 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 Fashion Week.

Dolce & Gabbana Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

First the celebs had to arrive and set themselves before the Dolce & Gabbana show could start. Luckily Kylie Minogue was on time this time, followed by Naomi Campbell and Jada Pinket-Smith with her daugther Willow. During the intro with Cavaleria Rusticana old campaign-images flashed starring Madonna, Dutch model Marpessa Henning and Monica Belluci plus the words bianco, sartoria, siciliana. It set the tone of the collection, which had all the Dolce & Gabbana ingredients.

It was a good show in terms of models, music, pace and atmosphere. But the set up seemed repetitive with collections shown before, not only the theme but also with a parade of models dressed alike at the finale and the clothes. There was no color at all, besides a few flowerprints in blue and green.  Black, white and the leopardprint played a leading role, as did lace, broderie anglaise, cotton and boudoir-like items as babydolls and bloomers. Tube-dresses were followed by skirt-suits, long dresses, mini-dresses and tunics. It was a sweet collection from a commercial point of view, but I hope the designerduo will continue to use their main line as their playing garden and come up with some fresh and intriguing.  One line with a different worked out concept every season- D&G – is enough.

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