8 ★ FT Weekend 22 February/23 February 2020
“They all lay in a trance/ each a cata-
tonic/ stuck in the time machine.”
Those lines, from poet Anne Sexton’s
sinister, 1971 retooling of Sleeping
Beauty, have been circulating round and
round my brain this fashion week here
in Milan.
It began with the show invitations. In
response to the climate crisis, New York
Fashion Week opted out of physical
invites; so did several designers in Lon-
don, such as Rejina Pyo. But the memo
did not land in Milan. Prada, which last
year introduced a line of recycled nylon
bags and joined the Fashion Pact envi-
ronmental coalition, sent hundreds of
invitations in hard geometric boxes.
Others encased their summons in
superfluous cloth or leather envelopes.
Moschino sent a box containing a two-
layered cake, which smelt like sugar but
was mysteriously inedible. All ended up
in the bin.
Knowing what we now know about
the fashion industry’s contributions to
global warming and biodiversity loss, to
show anything other than timeless,
good-quality, long-lasting clothes — like
those seen at Jil Sander and Max Mara —
seems out of touch.
That can be difficult for born maxi-
malists such as Moschino’s Jeremy Scott,
who dressed his models in corsets and
ribbons, birthday-cake panniers and
towering powdered wigs in a camp ode
to Marie Antoinette and her court at
Versailles. Or Gucci’s Alessandro
Michele, who returned to excess in the
styling of his AW20 show, with leather
harnesses and gloves, feather boas and
the odd police-man’s cap hat piled on
clothes already thrice-layered.
Who needs this stuff? The collection
he showed last September was
stimulating in its simplicity, giving play
to electric contrasts in colour, texture
and proportion. He would do well
In a climate emergency, to
show anything other than
timeless, long-lasting
clothes seems out of touch
independent and free women.
“I want to do things that are very real,”
she added. “I want to see these things in
the street more than in museums.”
It’s a seductive shift in thinking for a
house long associated with fantasy (and
fur), but one that wasn’t fully realised in
Thursday’s collection. Wrap coats and
evening dresses with drop-shoulder pil-
low sleeves, an oversized caramel moto-
blazer and pleated leather skirts were
exquisitely crafted but also wide, stiff.
Women have become so much more
casual than when Lagerfeld began at
Fendi — they require clothes that can
move easily into taxi-cabs and tubes,
that are slim enough to layer and fold
into carry-ons. These were still museum
clothes. A smattering of soft, slouchy
cardigans and a pair of loose, sherbert-
orange trousers suggested an evolution
is indeed under way.
A museum — or more specifically, an
art fair — was what Moncler chairman
and chief executive Remo Ruffini had in
mind when he announced in 2017 that
the puffa-jacket maker would no longer
host catwalk shows. Typically, a depar-
ture from the runway spells business
trouble, but not so for Moncler, a once-
bankrupt ski-wear manufacturer that
now boasts annual sales of €1.6bn and
one of the highest profit margins in the
sector.
Ruffini and his teams erected 12
installations to showcase the 12 collec-
tions produced by its Genius designers
and other collaborators. Kaia Gerber
wove through fog and rippling black pil-
lars in Jonathan Anderson’s quilted and
ruffled puffer coat, scarf and boots in
one arena. Models stomped through a
white-paneled room (borrowed from
Stanley Kubrick’s2001:ASpaceOdyssey)
in Richard Quinn’s terrific daisy-print
onesies and floral puffer dresses. Out
front, Alexandre Arnault, scion of
LVMH chief Bernard Arnault and chief
executive of Rimowa, asked his girl-
friend to snap a photo as he posed, smil-
ing, a Dior x Rimowa pochette slung on
one shoulder. (Rimowa was another of
the evening’s collaborators.)
The event, now in its third iteration,
was more expensive to produce than a
catwalk show, Ruffini said. But the
return is much greater, attracting 9,
visitors on opening night and furnishing
Moncler with 30 per cent of its digital
marketing content for the year, which it
shares across its website and social
media channels, including Instagram
and WeChat.
One thinks again of time machines —
only this time spun forward.Stuck in a time machine
He worked first with Anna Fendi and
her sisters, and later with her daughter,
Silvia Venturini Fendi, who designed the
house’s Baguette “it” bag and has since
2000 been creative director of accesso-
ries, and the men’s and children’s lines.
After Lagerfeld’s passing, she assumed
full control of the women’s line too.
“I think that my contribution is goingto become quite different,” Ms Fendi
said in a meeting at the LVMH-owned
house’s headquarters.
“I pose myself this question: Being a
woman designing for women, what do
you want to achieve? And who are the
women you want to have a dialogue
with? The answer was I want to do a col-
le c tion that can dre ss strong ,to press further in that direction.
Timeless doesn’t always have to mean
simple, or beige, as Miuccia Prada
reminded us on Thursday afternoon.
She has been padding the shoulders of
graphite wool blazers, scissoring midi
skirts into strips and velcro-ing sporty
sandals over sherbert-coloured knee
socks for more than a decade — and yetthey remain desirable and, thanks to a
tendency towards modernist shapes
and colours, not the least bit dated. A
new generation might invest in these
and wear them a decade hence.
What Fendi might look like in a dec-
ade remains uncertain. Karl Lagerfeld,
who passed away a year ago Wednesday,
was its creative force for 53 years.Clockwise from left: Moncler x Richard Quinn; Moschino; Fendi; Moncler x Richard Quinn; Marni; Max Mara— Jason Lloyd-EvansFASHION
Lauren
IndvikM I L A N FA S H I O N W E E K
London’s bright young things
The capital was brimming
with more new talent
than ever before, writesFlora Macdonald Johnston
A group of four young men, dressed in
deconstructed hoodies, tracksuits and
Nike trainers, twist and writhe on the
runway as models file towards them one
by one. The men twirl around the mod-
els, pulling up a hood here, unzipping a
windbreaker there, only letting them
move on when their utilitarian looks
feel “complete”.
This is the second collection from 27-
year-old Saul Nash, showing at Lon-
don’s Fashion East, an incubator for
emerging designers. When the show is
over, Nash steps out from backstage,
somersaults high in the air and is met
with thunderous applause.
His presentation broke up the usual
show format, but it was more than just a
gimmick — his functional athleisure,
designed to “live, move and dance
within”, was impeccably constructed.
London has long been a haven for
young designers looking to cut their
teeth and hone their craft — Christopher
Kane, Simone Rocha and Loewe’s
Jonathan Anderson all rose through the
ranks in the capital — but this season felt
particularly strong.
There were more creatives making
their debuts than in previous seasons,
and more awards and mentoring
schemes helping to sustain new talent. It
came as an uplifting contrast to New
York, where many young designers
were forced to cancel shows.
Malaysian-Chinese fashion graduate
Yen Wong showed a colourful and kitsch
collection of womenswear riffing on her
heritage in the British Fashion Council’s
NewGen room. She believes that more
young designers are getting traction in
the industry at the moment because
their methods of working appeal to the
modern, eco-conscious consumer.
“Construction is super-important,” she
says. “We think about how clothes are
made, going down the supply chain. We
want to track that what we are making is
worth being sold... We are changing
the way the industry thinks.”
Sustainability remains a key focus for
many young designers. Irish-born Rich-
ard Malone was the recipient of this
year’s A$200,000 (£100,000) Wool-
mark Prize, presented to designers who
use sustainably sourced Australian
merino wool in an innovative manner.
One particularly striking look from the
collection he submitted for the prize
was an aquamarine knitted jumper and
kilt, styled over fluted trousers.One recipient was University of West-
minster student Steven Stokey-Daley.
“It’s only when you’re two years deep
into [a degree] that you realise people
are spending £10,000 to £15,000 on
their shows — and how am I ever going
to be able afford that?” Stokey-Daley
said in a recent Vogue interview. With
the McQueen fabric, he produced beau-
tifully crafted menswear: one car coat
came in a heavy wool, another well-cut
trench in a red-and-black check com-
plete with belt. He is one to watch.
Korean designer Goom Heo made her
runway debut, as did London duo
Marco Capaldo and Federica Cavenati of
16Arlington. Heo, who also showed as
part of the Fashion East collective,
showcased a unique take on menswear.
There were knitted bodysuits, long-
sleeved tops technically pleated in
kaleidoscopic colours, and oversized
blazers with deconstructed shoulders. It
felt radical. At 16Arlington, writer and
actress Lena Dunham made her debut
catwalk appearance. Dressed in a black-
and-gold brocade puffball dress with
leather bodice, she strutted down the
runway and also led the final walk.
Dunham has often supported young
designers, wearing their looks to glitzy
events. She first wore 16Arlington, who
are best known for their metallic and
feather-trimmed party wear, to the UK
premiere of Quentin Tarantino’sOnce
UponaTimeinHollywoodlast summer.
What does the future hold for Lon-
don’s rising stars? Richard Malone
believes young designers are on track to
change the industry’s mindset for the
better. “I think people feel disheartened
by the excess that surrounds us,” he
says. “So many brands are obsessed
with product, product, product. It’s just
not realistic to create like that.”Malone has pushed sustainability
ever since he emerged on the scene with
his first standalone show in 2017 (after
two seasons of Fashion East); he says
that he regards it as “non-negotiable”.
His AW20 collection, shown last week,
used recycled fishing nets and offcuts of
discarded leather. However, sustainable
practices do come at a price. “I haven’t
always been able to work on commis-
sions that I have wanted to because of
my decision,” says Malone. “So I can’t
grow as fast.”
Also presented as part of the Wool-
mark Prize was the inaugural Karl
Lagerfeld Prize, worth A$100,000 and
awarded to New Yorker Emily Adams
Bode. Bode, who launched her label in
2016, is known for her use of discarded
fabrics and vintage pieces, and for work-
ing with certified mills. Her wool jump-
ers, trousers and shorts came covered in
slogans: no mean feat, considering that
printing colour on wool is a difficult
technical process. Why does Bode
believe she was chosen for the award?
“We have really focused on reassessing
our business model,” she tells me.
“What we have been successful at is
changing the way the industry responds
to sustainable techniques and repurpos-
ing deadstock and fabrics.”
Much of the support for new design-
ers this season came from established
luxury houses. Young students, crea-
tives and labels often struggle with the
expense of buying good-quality fabric
with which to produce their runway col-
lections. In response to this, Alexander
McQueen’s creative director Sarah Bur-
ton introduced her first fabric donation
scheme for future designers in the
lead-up to Fashion Week, gifting unused
archive fabric to 14 colleges across Eng-
land, Scotland and Wales.From left: Richard Malone; Saul Nash; Bode— GettyFEBRUARY 22 2020 Section:Features Time: 21/2/2020 - 18: 19 User: matthew.brayman Page Name: FASHION, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 8, 1