Humorous fashion and hunky models dominated the opening day of Milano Uomo Moda, the Italian menswear season, with kicky co-ed shows by Moschino and Dsquared2.
DSquared2: Body Heat near the Duomo
Entitled ‘D2Heat’, the latest collection from Dean and Dan Caten celebrated the beautiful body. Where so many brands treat models like cannon fodder for social media, DSquared2 herald and trumpet them, and their gilded moment of youth.
So much so, that Dean and Dan even printed a black-and-white theatrical program listing all the models with individual photos along with photos of five brilliantly buffed dancers who opened the show. It was staged inside Teatro Lirico, the Lyric Theater of the much-admired Italian balladeer and songwriter Giorgio Gaber. A dramatic Rationalist-era theater that was also by bizarre coincidence the site of the last public appearance of Mussolini.
Benito, we are happy to report, would surely have been shocked by the quintet of dancers, bumpin’ and grindin’, crotch-grabbing, break dancing routine with its overtly sexual gestures. All five eventually mounting into glass cages that hung above the stage throughout the show.
And by this bravura statement of sexually liberated, bodycon style by Dean and Dan. From the opening naughty, leggy damsels in cutaway flamenco dresses worn with taught bra tops; or uber skinny bumster jeans topped by slashed out mini corsets. For guys, leather biker jackets were worn over bondage straps and naked torsos.
Ever the pun makers, the Catens tagged one T-Shirt ‘Catenacci’, in a clever play on the Italian term Catenaccio to devote highly defensive football. A timely in-joke as Italy begins its defense of its European soccer title in the Euro 2024 on Saturday night.
The show was also a welcome reminder of the Canadian duo’s tailoring skills, especially the brilliant BIPOC-style Latino pants cut with pleats and acres of leg. Driven on by a mashup of Prince tracks, this was a great power pop vision and statement.
The show invitation of two mouths about to kiss read: “This Package is Full of Love.” And one imagined most of this cast would end up in bed with someone fairly shortly.
Moschino: Trompe l’oeil and tencho
The latest Moschino collection was presented inside a disused north Milan factory much loved by fashionistas for the juxtaposition of the dingy location with the brand-new clothes.
The collection marked the second for Moschino by Argentinian-born Adrian Appiolazza, who was named creative director of the house back in January.
In his women’s wear debut in February, he played on multiple Moschino codes, and he continued the scatter-short approach with menswear.
Appiolazza has an excellent, albeit eclectic CV, having done stints at Loewe, Chloé, under both Phoebe Philo and Clare Waight Keller, and Vuitton and Miu Miu, under Marc Jacobs and Miuccia Prada.
And a lot of those brands leaked into this collection, from elaborate and askew cotton summer dresses of Anderson at Loewe to the thrift shop aesthetic of Jacobs.
This Buenos Aires-born designer also tapped into Franco Moschino’s obsession with trompe-l’oeil – featuring in Prince of Wales trenches; fab’ faux braces on grandfather shirts and cool shirt jackets.
Franco Moschino was always a savvy tailor, and Adrian respected that with natty safari jackets – tagged Survival Jacket – and some slimline mannish suits for women. Along with Italian tricolor flag jackets overprinted with footballs, timed for the opening match by hosts Germany of the Euro 2024 on Friday night.
Franco’s favorite image, the heart, also featured in some cool giant bags, while a series of slice of pizza soft cloth clutches were suitably absurdist.
But the collection ran out of steam in the final third, and began to feel recycled as did the stacks of cheap second-hand luggage around which the cast walked.
Too many fried-egg prints; or bushwacker gowns that looked weak rather than wacky.
An otherwise fun show that faded.
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