Emilio Pucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

It’s Peter Dundas’ third season at Pucci and he has taken the label to a darker, more risky place. In a season where designers go for minimalism and a structured ladylike silhouette, he presented a sexy collection with a bohemian touch and lots of red-carpet potential.

Dundas opened the show with a long purple jersey dress in a houseprint from the Pucci-archives, but he dip-dyed it in purple. This set the tone for the rest of the collection with ultra, ultrashort dresses – even the models were complaining about it – fringed scarf-dresses and big feather details. New were the tailored jackets in strong, clean lines. They were mixed with high waisted, suede flares. Eveningwear was pure glamor: long dresses with plunging necklines or minidresss with gold lace inserts and high slits.

Marni Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

It’s always a surprise which direction the Marni-collection goes. Bohemian, more severe, vintage luxury? For next fall the designer Consuela Castiglione brings light and the optimism of spring to the stores. Not only because of the slightly faded colors – tabac, pink, red, yellow and green – also for the 3/4 pants, bermudas and T-shirts with prints done by the artist Gary Hume.

The overall character of the collection was ladylike, with hourglass cut, stiff skirtsuits, sleeveless jackets and dresses. A small pleated, separate apron added  hips and shape to the silhouette. The colors, metallic details, mosaic prints and treated fabrics  – laminated, transparent, dense, inside out, unfinished –  added a contemporary  elegance tot the clothes.

The shoes and boots- in perforated leather and ponyskin – were tough and modern, the bags elegant and with a modern classic character. And of course the accessories were to die for, big chunky necklaces in matching colors were the finishing touch.

Gucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

This was one of the most simple, easy and safe Gucci-collections I’ve seen in years. No real focus at bags – a few totes, croco shoulderbags and clutches – thigh high boots and high heels. The silhouet was pretty straight, sometimes bodyhugging. Short dresses in white, black and gray showed flashes of skin and were pimped up with silver details at wrists, neck or waist.Other dresses were more draped and had a painterly prints.

Pants were Gucci-like: slim, low at the waist and mixed with short (fur)jackets, silk tunics or a printed shirts. Big 70’s inspired coats in camel were eyecatching. This is what Gucci is known for, but I was hoping for a little bit more firework and inspiring ideas. The eveningwear though had just that extra elegance and sexappeal, great for a red carpet-moment instead of those big in your face gowns. Hopefully Rachel Zoe will be inspired, she was sitting frontrow at Gucci.

Etro Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

A Wunderkammer perfumed with amber and absinthe, that was the startingpoint of Etro’s collection. The result was a collection with sensual, oriental influences and the somewhat rounded silhouet of Paul Poiret. Kimono-dresses, layering, satin, new style paisleys and neo-colonial dressing.

Male and female, plain and printed melted in the same look. Mini-robes draped over the double breasted blazer were teamed with harempants, furcoats and cocktail frocks became cardigans. Colors were vibrant with the shades of semi-precious stones: emerald, jade, amber.

The eveningwear was sensual and bodyhugging: satin dresses with samurai-dragons at the back or draped with prints like tattoo’s.

Bottega Veneta Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

This was a different collection at Bottega Veneta. Tomas Maier switched the nonchalant chic for tough, black leather and over-designed pieces. No more sweet, simple dresses in light colors, but rather severe looking dresses in black wool, leather or mixed worn with high boots and triangle-shaped bags. There was even a loosefitting, draped overall in black.

The Bottega Veneta collections used to have a certain edge, colorwise, in shape or in the use of fabric. The fw-collections looked a little bit dreary though. But that doen’t mean there was nothing we loved:  the fluid looking dresses in purple and gray, the coats in shiny techno-fabrics, the eveningdresses in pleated, sheer organza, the pantsuit with green metallic shoes and the pink leather pants with lighter colored shirt.

Spijkers en Spijkers Fashion Presentation Milan FW2010

Der mittler zwischen hirn und händen muss das herz sein ! or: Without the heart, there can be no understanding between the hand and the mind. This quote, coming from Metropolis, was written on the invite for the presentation of the Spijkers & Spijkers’ fw 2010 presentation. The Dutch twin-sisters presented a collection inspired by the German sci-fi movie Metropolis, produced in the twenties and directed by Fritz Lang.

Colors (black, brown, silver, gold), graphic art, the mirrors, images of the city by night, techno-like effects and the face of the Metropolis-robot were all used in the collection. Of course the designers gave it their own twist. The result was a modern, ladylike collection with 20’s influences without being too retro.

Short, pleated skirts were mixed with sweaters, tunics in silver and bronze were combined with leggings in the same color-effect and overalls with graphic details looked almost chic with a chiffon blouse printed with skyscrapers by night.

The accessories were matching: small parts of a machines formed golden and silver necklaces and bangles, some decorated with colorful stones. It’s a pity the collection got pushed aside by the killing showschedule in Milan – it deserves the attention.

Jil Sander Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

The soundtrack at Jil Sander consisted of shooting and screaming voices; this was a woman on a mission. It was from the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. A part of the collection had the same sci-fi computer-game fantasy: form fitting catsuits,  rompers and knitted shorts suits all in black. The boots with velcro-closures did it too.

Another part of the collection Raf Simons presented, was modern and classic: fly-front jackets, skirtsuits, and slim coats in supple, light tweed and softly colored windowpane checks. This is the Jil sander-brand as we know it from her succesyears in the nineties. This was retro-minimalism at its best. Young women wil like the short skirts and tough boots, older women will feel comfortable in the black dresses and pantsuits. The luxury is in the fabric and make without screaming the brands name.

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.

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