There was a lot to celebrate at Milan Fashion Week on Thursday including Peter Hawkings’ much anticipated debut as creative director of Tom Ford and Moschino’s 40th anniversary. The double-entendre besotted label staged Forty Years of Love — a literal play in four acts, complete with a red velvet curtain — that added fresh meaning to the term ‘fashion show.’
Whatever your style personality, you could find something to suit you on the second day of Milan, from Max Mara’s substantial utility glamour inspired by Land Girls to Emporio Armani’s gossamer silhouettes that floated by on the breeze. The talking point at Prada — besides the slime that oozed from the ceiling at the centre of the runway — was also movement. Floral prints were cut into fringe to give individual blooms shifting depths, and a trio of short pastel dresses trailed wisps of superfine organza and gazar as though they each had their own wind machine.
The Front Row:
The prediction that Fashion Month front rows would be packed with Hollywood stars whose diaries are now wide open due to the the SAG-AFTRA strike is proving correct. Celeb sightings on Wednesday included Cara Delevingne at Emporio Armani, Yara Shahidi at Max Mara, and Elizabeth Banks at Tom Ford.
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But the FROW to beat all FROWs was Prada’s: Emma Watson, Scarlett Johansson, Hunter Schafer, Letitia Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, and Wes Anderson were all present and accounted for, as were Sofia Ritchie, Rosalía, and Amanda Gorman. For those tuning into the livestream, the Prada team turned the cameras on early so you could see — and hear — the hundreds of screaming fans across the road from Fondazione Prada. The decibel level for the K-pop band Enhypen was so ear piercing that Kylie Jenner (one half of the Internet’s new favourite couple) slipped by practically unannounced.
The Final Bow:
Design directors play an absolutely vital role at fashion houses: they are responsible for collection and concept development, helping interpret the creative director’s vision. But it’s a job that’s mostly behind the scenes. So when Fabio Zambernardi — who started at Prada in 1981 and who has been design director at both Prada and Miu Miu for more than two decades — came out to take his first and final bow, it was a really poignant moment. Prada’s co-creative directors, Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons, bowed and clapped, and he doffed his cap to them.
The Debut:
Tom Ford and his partner Domenico de Sole sold the Tom Ford label to the Estée Lauder Companies earlier this year, and the fashion world has waited with bated breath to see what Tom Ford without Tom would look like. It looked a lot like the confident sexiness of the old Tom Ford we knew and loved. New creative director Peter Hawkings is far from a newbie: he’s worked for Ford for 25 years, most recently as senior vice-president of menswear at Tom Ford. So he knows his former boss’s codes like the back of his hand, right down to the hip-sculpted metal belt buckle that debuted in Ford’s Gucci Spring-Summer 1996 collection.
The Anniversary:
Moschino celebrated its 40th anniversary, but since the house is currently without a creative director following the departure of Jeremy Scott, four power stylists — Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Lucia Liu, and Katie Grand — stepped in from the wings. Presenting a fashion play in four acts, each reinterpreted tropes from collections founder Franco Moschino created during Moschino’s first decade that would go on to define the label’s characteristic sense of humour, like trompe l’oeil details and slogan T-shirts. The Grand section featuring a Wayne McGregor-choreographed dance costumed with ‘Loud Luxury’ T-shirts and tutus was a hoot.
The Instagram Moment:
One thing there’s never enough of on the runway: happy-looking models. So it was a real treat at Emporio Armani to see 66 signature Armani styles like unstructured suits and gauzy gowns float by, each paired with a smile. At the end Mr. Armani came out grinning ear-to-ear to take his bow with 13 girls in their last looks.
