BOTTEGA VENETA – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

The Bottega Veneta Fall 2012 collection was a breath of fresh air amidst a season that has consistently shown oversized, voluminous looks.  Designer Tomas Maier departed from Bottega Veneta’s usual flowing, loose silhouette in favor of a crisply tailored, form-fitting collection.  Maier used dense, opaque fabrics accented by prints and embroidery that highlighted the figure.  Coat dresses and suits had a New Look silhouette, with slightly padded hips and nipped in at the waist, while an abundance of Oscar-worthy gowns were shown in everything from simple shifts adorned with jeweled brooches, to stretch velvet, to bold floral prints.  The fall Bottega Veneta collection presented a vision of attainable glamour and elegance that translates easily into the modern woman’s wardrobe.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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DOLCE & GABBANA – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Dolce & Gabbana demonstrated the pride they have for their Italian heritage in their Fall 2012 collection, presenting a collection that drew from Sicily, Domenico Dolce’s birth place, and its rich Baroque religious traditions.   The collection celebrated the feminine shape, with wide hips, suggestively sheer lace dresses, and looks that were wearable for all body types.  The pieces were dripping in gold; dresses and boxy jackets were enhanced by ornate goldthread embroidery, and models wore headbands, handbags, and shoes all equally gilded.  Prints were vibrant and lovely with oversized flowers and cherubs that could have been taken straight from  a Sicilian religious mural.  Stefano Gabbana called the Fall 2012 Dolce & Gabbana woman, “something between princesses and virgins,” and it is just that sumptuous, fantastical quality that makes this collection so entrancing.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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DSQUARED – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Dsquared’s Fall 2012 collection was designers Dan and Dean Caten’s homage to senior year of high school, complete with disco ball and an impromptu prom.  Although a sign proclaimed this to be the “Class of 2013,” the aesthetic of the collection proved to be more sixties.  Models in big bouffants wearing lady-like leather gloves walked out of the classroom and down the runway in leopard print and diamante pumps, which were a surprisingly reasonable height considering Dsquared’s previous collections of ankle-snapping footwear.  The silhouettes were equally vintage, with tight, mohair sweaters over button downs, slim, ankle length pants, and collars trimmed in mink.  These sweet, innocent designs (a rare offering from Dsquared) were given modern impact with luxurious fabrics, like crocodile and patent leather, done in vibrant tones.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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FENDI – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini sought to present, “modern femininity without references,” in their Fall 2012 collection for Italy’s premier fur fashion house, Fendi.  The collection was propelled by the idea of mixing contrary fabrics and textures, combining leather with wool, matte and shine, and using old couture techniques in fresh ways.  This meant a bustle gathered together navy blue crocodile and antelope skins, a sleek, light gray shift had puff sleeves in spiky fur, and some bags that looked like hide were actually made of rubber.  The styling brought out the details of the collection; makeup by Peter Philips had a white brushstroke detail on the eyes, drawing from the white details in the looks, and the hair, by Sam McKnight, alluded to Anjelica Huston with severe, “somewhat-tribal, Victorian” braids.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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GIORGIO ARMANI – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Giorgio Armani’s “Easy Chic” Fall 2012 collection showed menswear tailoring on suits, Bermuda shorts, and blazers, enlivened by a feminine delicacy and pops of tangerine, fuchsia, and berry.  The collection demonstrated two of Milan’s strongest trends this season, flats and cropped tailored pants paired with a fitted jacket.  The masculine structure to Armani’s suit looks were dramatically softened thanks to chiffon and organza shells, shearling, rabbit, and faux furs, and fit-and-flare coats.  Armani explained, “The modern woman loves to dress in androgynous and masculine clothes, yet she doesn’t want to sacrifice feminine subtlety and lightness.”  The collection was styled with oversized, fabric floral brooches and fedoras with brims tipped dramatically to the side that gave Armani’s Easy Chic women an aura of intrigue and mystery.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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GUCCI – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Gucci designer Fria Giannini played with the concept of nineteenth-century decadence for her Fall 2012 collection, which, much like her men’s collection, was dark and moody.  Fabrics were rich and luxurious with lot of plush velvets, tapestry jacquards, and subdued florals on a black background.  This season’s palette was equally stormy in plums, bottle greens, and espresso.  Giannini wanted her collection to hit jus the right now of romanticism, she said of the clothes, “not cute-romantic; it has a confidence.”  The looks consisted primarily of oversized menswear, which has been seen all over the Milan runways for fall.  But the men’s looks were kept feminine with sheer blouses, pre-Raphaelite sleeves, and embellished bodices.  This collection marked a new direction for the fashion house whose edgy, yet dreamy looks were heightened by the Scarface soundtrack models walked down the runway to.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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JIL SANDER – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

At the end of Raf Simons’s final presentation for Jil Sander, the audience not only gave him a standing ovation, but also called the designer out one more time for an encore.  Simons, who has spent seven years at the label, has now been called up to Dior, and Jil Sander will once again design for the label.  For his last collection, Simons wanted to focus on a day in the life of a romantic relationship, embodying the pleasure of two individuals becoming one, but also the challenges and hard work it takes to maintain such a blissful state.  The collection, largely of knee-length dresses and dress coats, struck a chord of 1950s elegance, demureness, and grace.  The loose cuts of the dresses gave the impression of undergarments as outerwear, while the palette of blush pink, coffee, and pale grey kept things feminine and light.  By the end of the show, Simons began to show the fissures in the relationship, presenting pieces incorporating black leather and PVC.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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LEITMOTIV – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Fabio Sasso and Juan Caro are the Italian-Columbian designers behind fashion label Leitmotiv, and their Fall 2012 collection, “L’Universo Elegante,” explores the ever-expanding universe and the way it is simultaneously glorious, elegant, and at peace with being infinite.  The result is a men’s and women’s wear collection that mixes crisp tailoring and structure with wild prints and photorealism that evokes designers like Jeremy Scott and Christopher Kane.  The collection is striking with bold, graphic elements, and neon colors mixed in with luxurious fabrics like velvet, leather, and silk.  The designers describe the perfect Leitmotiv woman to be someone who, “wants to surprise without sacrificing comfort,” and “just as the stars change shape and energy, giving off light and color, is always in search of a new identity.”  Modern, wearable, and very cool, Leitmotiv is quickly garnering devotees from all over the world.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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MARNI – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Marni designer Cansuelo Catiglioni took cues from the 1960s in creating her polished, color-blocked, chic Fall 2012 collection.  The collection’s 60s undertones were enhanced by white stockings and drop waist, boxy silhouettes.  The collection was given a dash of Orientalism with gold jacquard, splashes of tomato red, three-quarter length pants, and red kabuki-soled shoes with gold metal toecaps.  The looks were completed with Paul Hanton’s Vidal Sassoon-inspired heavy banged, pin straight bobs and focused on a mixing of vibrant colors and structural shapes, rather than putting the emphasis on any particular graphic print.  Catiglioni explained, “I was interested in architecture and controlled lines.”

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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MISSONI – MILAN F/W 2012 FASHION SHOW

Angela Missoni’s collection for the house of Missoni‘s Fall 2012 collection took cues from Mother Nature, informed by the story of a girl who wants to lose herself in the wild, but is trapped in the big city.  Angela applied traditional Missoni weaves and patterns to an contemporary, urban wardrobe of pieces inspired by wood, stone, fur, tree bark, and mica-speckled minerals.  Copper-colored designs cut through ensembles like mineral seams through soil, dresses were heavily embroidered to mimic wood grain, and degraded stripes suggested sediment layers.  The earth-tone looks were complemented by tightly wrapped stoles and big fur collars that mimicked the knit and lace pieces that were crafted to look like animal pelts.

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Fashion Week Coverage Directed by Indira Cesarine

Text by Emily Kirkpatrick

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