The Power of the Classics

MILAN — To say that the moment we are living is uneasy is an understatement. How to cope with scenarios that change abruptly, with dystopia that’s become permanent and anxiety the only state of mind? When discomfort is our perpetual condition, looking back offers an easy answer. Things that have endured for years, decades, even centuries reassure us. That’s the power of a collective archive: the classics, in short.

The Milan fashion weekend that ended on Monday was all about classicism: not an exercise in nostalgia nor a recycling of anachronisms, but as a means to imagine the present anew without starting from scratch, using familiarity as a form of comfort.

What emerged, at best, was the notion of clothes as connectors, across eras, generations and cultures. The assumption was quietly and powerfully expressed in the intimate but effective Mordecai presentation, held in a karate gym. Founder and creative director Ludovico Bruno claimed inspiration from a long trip to Mongolia which translated not into referential shapes — there is, in any case, a culture-wandering sort of elevated pureness to his take on functional dressing for the modern nomad — but in the concept of taking care of others, informed by the way Mongolian elders are looked after by the young. As Bruno’s models walked on carpets, they shed their outer layers only for the next mannequin to pick them up and wear them, and so on, a nod to interconnectedness and the idea that “everything goes with everything.”

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Over at Zegna, Alessandro Sartori used the family closet both as a metaphor for generational batons passed on in the form of inherited pieces of clothing, and literally as a place in which things worth keeping are stored and the act of getting dressed begins. To make the message clear, the show space was furnished with an enormous armoire, its partly open doors revealing a bevy of pieces from the Zegna archives as well as from Gildo and Paolo Zegna’s own inheritance, up to Abito N.1, a 1930s tailored suit belonging to the company’s founder, count Ermenegildo Zegna. The first few models came out in silk robes, walked into the closet, and got dressed, and then a parade of suits, roomy coats, snug blousons, shirt jackets, double breasted blazers and more followed. It was literal, but oh so effective.

It’s been nearly 10 years now since Alessandro Sartori began his quiet revolution at Zegna. At first, he moved away from stiff formality to propose a tailored take on uniform and workwear dressing — all the while generating a chore jacket / overshirt flood that finally reached Uniqlo and the high street — then slowly reverted back to the brand’s origins, with a new perspective. This collection was a peak in this sense, impressive for its soft tailoring and sense of easy, cross-generational properness.

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At Prada, the classics were mercilessly pressed, peeled, stained, excavated, hollowed out and ultimately shrunken in an unremittingly vertical, narrow silhouette that was a bold move away from the wide shoulders and big volumes that still reign supreme in fashion-land but a return to known territory for both Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada. The rake-thin line and the obsession with the flesh-less adolescent body has long been a thing for Simons — way more than for Mrs Prada. An interest in creases, folds and all kinds of perfect imperfections as signifiers of class, on the other hand, are well known Prada-isms. This week’s collection brought the two together, and if it all looked very Raf — the capelets on the trench coats! — it was served in a very Prada way: intellectual ruminations on the present, all of it agreeable, if not all of it convincing in the context of luxury fashion, a conundrum Mrs Prada herself acknowledged.

Set amidst a staged demolition of a 3-storey patrician mansion, all fireplaces and stuccoes, the show was a reflection on the moment. “‘Uncomfortable’ is the perfect word, for me, for the psychology of these times,” Mrs Prada explained. “Thereafter we need clarity, a precision in clothes. There is a sense of the before, which interests us, even as we search for the new. That is a sign of respect — you want to move on but not erase what came before. Holding an idea of beauty and changing it into something new.”

With their battered surfaces and undone hems, the clothes looked like they were unearthed from the walls that lined the set. They looked like reactivated relics, and that was charming, but what was missing was a sense of urgency, Prada’s proclivity for moving the conversation forward in unexpected ways. This outing, instead, was expected: something that may be digested by the time the collection hits stores.

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Elsewhere, the quest for safety meant looking at the archives with a fresh eye in order to make the familiar look appealing again. Ralph Lauren, back in Milan after a 20-year hiatus, is forever the Yankee classicist, remixing tropes of class and wealth in ways that make for an unbreakable institution that speaks to the public. The show covered the whole expanse of Lauren-ism, from the workwear of Polo to the classy tailoring of Purple Label, and was a masterclass in Americana. One does not go to Ralph for the shock of the new, but for reassurance and that’s what we got.

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Paul Smith created his latest collection by delving into the archives and relying on the point of view of a newly hired design director. Things were taken apart, mixed, revised, keeping the classic with a twist verve Sir Paul masters so well, having actually invented it. The salon style show felt particularly on point: cozy, intimate, real. As he entered his 55th year as an independent company, Smith said: “Everything is out of scale today, budgets are disproportionate, and there’s no soul left. Better be small, but authentic.”

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Twins Dean and Dan Caten have just renewed their once disputed licensing agreement with Staff International, part of the OTB group, and seemed in restart mode. The collection moved between Tron and the cold of the mountains, bringing their Canadian roots to a territory where extreme sports and seduction go hand in hand. It was a bit tacky and naff at times, but oh so very DSquared2, and all the better for that.

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There were lots of re-editions on the Dolce & Gabbana catwalk, where Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana opted for fragmentation over univocal message, advocating for what they insisted was a pluralist take on being a man today. From the sportsman to the suited businessman to the neocaveman, no stereotype was left untapped, but the show sparked outrage for the narrowness of the casting.

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At Etro, Marco De Vincenzo rummaged through the archives and reimagined a 1997 campaign featuring humans with animal heads, not for the sake of replica, but to capture the eclectic essence of a certain Etro-sity. The swarming paisleys, the lush velvets, as well as the dressing gowns as coats and the rooster feathers on tailored suits certainly were familiar, but the interpretation felt fresh and agile.

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Continuity was the name of the game at Armani, where Leo Dell’Orco stepped into the limelight as King Giorgo’s designated heir on menswear, staying true to the well-established house codes but allowing fresh air to blow through the windows, so to speak. Everything was as softly tailored as expected, but the impasto of jewel-toned velvets and washed cashemeres and opaque wools had hints of the unexpected. With Armani-ism so profoundly set, and its 1990s expression so influential, this was a wise move: Armani is not a house meant for disruption. At least, for now.

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Stepping back, the slimness of the calendar offered an unprecedented opportunity in Milan: visibility for the new guard. Of the whole up-and-coming lot, Satoshi Kuwata is the most established, and already a darling of the press with his label Setchu having secured the LVMH prize a few years ago. As the business has grown, the aesthetic has matured, moving away from the overly abstract forms of the beginning towards an elated pragmatism. “I started in my apartment, and now I am showing in my headquarters,” said Kuwata introducing the show himself with a live demonstration of the multipurposeness of a bag that turned into a skirt, and then into a coat.

Multi-functionality is the foundation of Setchu, but in this collection, inspired by a fishing trip to Greenland — a sport Kuwata is a fervent enthusiast of — it was interpreted in a raw, pared-back way, much to the advantage of the final outcome. There were echoes of Margiela’s flat collection and hints of Rick Owens’ brutalism, not to mention Phoebe Philo’s Celine-era ugly shoes, but the outing was inspiring none the less.

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Now in its tenth year, Pronounce, the brainchild of Jun Zhou and Yushan Li, continues making strides, showing a newfound maturity. Simple, architectural shapes were the standout this season, and that translated into an idea of masculinity that, although eminently playful, felt a lot less costume-y.

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Among the upcycling contingent, Lessico Familiare, quite a local phenomenon as the cheering crowd that gathered under the porches of the new Istituto Marangoni headquarters to attend the show testified, felt stuck in a messy, decadent aesthetic that felt a little silly, self-absorbed and out of sync with the times.

Simon Cracker’s Simone Botte, instead, channeled punk, disorder and yes, lots of Comme and Christoher Nemeth, which is an unavoidable trap in charting such waters. The output was less slogan-ridden than the past, in a way even strict, and it made for a convincing step forward.

In his first proper show, finally, Polimoda alumnus Domenico Orefice expanded his black-heavy, industrial and expressionist aesthetic opening up to neutral colours, lighter materials and a certain softness. It was a promising start that oozed passion: something that fashion, today, often lacks.