Fashion Week Musings a la Milan

with a literal Milano cookie or two

I decided last minute not to go to Paris - a good decision in hindsight having been sick twice in as many weeks, but it didn’t stop me from noticing how muted the week felt, like New York did. friends and colleagues I spoke to who had been in London the week before said much the same. My one trend takeaway - if anyone still cares about those things is that everyone is going to be wearing fur (of the real variety, the PETA red paint days are a fever dream, apparently). To me, this speaks more of a recession than anything, no one is excited, and collectively i’m seeing trending to 80’s suiting a work wear. There’s been talk of a vibe shift. Now we’re talking about the boom boom aesthetic, and to quote a fictional author who sometimes annoys me, I can’t help but wonder if this is how smart people felt as the free love and progressivism of the 60s and 70s melted into the conservatism and greed is good mindset of the 1980s.

Below, some thoughts on the shows I saw, mixed in with a little bit of a diary.

Alberta Ferretti

The first show of the week for me, and always fun to see with friends, along with the anticipation of a new creative director is always a recipe for a good time. I wore this old Alberta Ferretti dress I bought back in 2012 for my ‘great gatsby’ themed 21st birthday party at the much missed gramercy park hotel. The second time I wore it was to shoot this episode of a video series, entitled the vintage dress. The third time as last week to the show. It was a dreary, rainy day in Milan, which also helped with the slow, start to the week. It lacks frenzy, and mutes anticipation. But Lorenzo Serafini’s debut didn’t disappoint in this regard. When a new creative director takes over, there’s a bit of bated breath to see the new direction. They have to put their on spin on it while still honoring the house codes. House codes are important. It would be like going to your favorite restaurant, that has a signature dish on the menu for years, and suddenly you go to find they’ve completely switched cuisines. It’s not that you don’t enjoy that cuisine, but it’s not why you went to that restaurant in the first place. There was plenty of the Chiffon and Suiting we’ve come to know and love, but there was sex appeal and modernism that we’ve come to associate with Philosophy, which makes sense as that was Lorenzo Serafini’s training ground under Alberta Ferretti. Sex appeal and Romanticism are two things that share a venn diagram, but finding them melded together in the same collection is always exciting. My poor little nerd heart couldn’t handle the collection notes either, which had love notes from Zelda to Scott Fitzgerald. A nice tie to my gatsby inspired dress, and my own nonsense (like that time I tried to flirt with a hot man by talking about the virtues of Hemingway v Fitzgerald in the uber at the end of the night. If you wonder why I’m still single, I could probably point to behavior like that lol) To that same point, later that night as we were discussing at the official/unofficial dinner, which got very real very quickly, in the best ways, and reminded me that there are good people in fashion, smart people in fashion who want the best for the world and are not transactional and terrible people. It’s a small venn diagram, but it exists, and so thanks to my friends for reminding me of that.

Luisa Beccaria

I am not a morning person, at all, and it’s when you have a show at 9:30am that especially reminds me of this. But, it’s made all the better when it’s a cool fifteen minute walk from the hotel, and you’re not having hair and make up done. Wearing slingback flats with a cool beaded Dries Van Noten jacket (that somehow reminds me of my mom, despite being a purchase last fall and has been a winter blue workhorse) feels so capital F fashion to me. So on the walk over to Casa Cipriani to the show, I was trying to describe the brand to my friend (hi Alexander!) and could only come up with “Old-World European Princess whose style icon is Audrey Hepburn”. and I couldn’t have been more pleased since that is exactly what the collection that walked café society style turned out to be. It was fantastic. Plenty of rich plums and burgundies (which you know this gemini has a weakness for) to drape ourselves in come fall. It’s not quite in line with the boom boom aesthetic, but maybe it’s the evolution from Quiet Luxury to what we *think* European Princesses wear.

Moschino

Moschino is somehow one of the only shows left that still deals in satire and cheekiness that a lot of other brands have scrapped in favor of being more retail friendly. which Moschino is not, but people love it regardless. I am always fascinated by that runway. I was sitting across from a set of asian ambassadors or celebrities (I have no idea which) but they were dressed in head to toe moschino in ways I could never dream of. It’s fantastic to see all the interpretations. Also they had a brand activation with Pepperidge Farm aka Milano Cookies which my friend Elena informed me the Italians didn’t know about, which is both hilarious and a crime. So there were a bunch of milano cookies to eat before the show. Three flavors, although I only had the lemon and the coconut. It tied in by eventually having the bag of milano’s go down the runway minutes later. The collection itself brought that same level of knowing self-acknowledgement. A wink wink nudge nudge if you will. It’s always an antidote to the normal minimalism I expect to see out of the Italian designers, but not quite the garish maximilism of sex appeal from some of the other brands. But there was plenty of that. There were looks that brought in English heritage whether it was actual English pattern makers Sanderson of London, or the opening looks which to me read Savile Row through the lens of Charles Dickens. There were vibes of Derelicte by Mugatu (I’M SORRY. If there’s a Zoolander reference to be made I WILL MAKE IT OR ELSE I WILL PERISH IN A BURST OF EXISTENTIAL SADNESS AND REGRET FOR NOT HAVING TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY) And my personal favorite was the last look that walked which was essentially an oversized white dress screened with the earth and SOS on it. A bleak spot of political awareness in an age where everyone seems to be turning away from it. My favorite part of this however was the bright purple Moschino suit I was wearing which I then took off in the car to Missoni becuase I had my Dress hiked up underneath in order to fit under the suit. It was a stroke of ingenuity I was particularly proud of.

Missoni

Brilliant quick changes aside, Missoni is always cozy. But there were so many amazing jackets in this collection, we will at least be warm if the world goes to hell. It was very New England fisherman meets 70s discotheque with sparkles and you know how I feel about sparkles. Shown in a bleak industrial space - but at least they gave us customized blankets on each seat!! - it highlighted the push pull I think we are seeing in fashion and the wider world right now. After the show I got drinks with my friend Stephanie before meeting other friends for dinner from the team Moschino, at my new favorite place in Milan - Moebius - which reminds me of Wylie Dufresne’s hey day in New York with the molecular biology and mixology. They have a pesto martini - which sounds weird but it’s so good - and I will sing its praises until the cows come home. A late dinner with good food and friends is always an excellent way to end the week. Since I was on the Emirates flight home the next day (where, randomly I sat next to that influencer Nara Smith, who doesn’t sound anything like her social media videos, which kind of makes me respect her more for the bit, and was wearing an awesome grey mink coat that really did maybe help me get on the fur train).

Now, I’m back home recovering from cold/flu nonsense on my couch watching episodes of Bones (your girl needs some workplace sexual tension, thank you) in cashmere sweatsuits & furiously working on book and literary things.

‘Til Next Time

XOXO,

Casey