Give me five: the best 5 moments of Milan Women's Fashion Week FW17-18

First Milan Fashion Week orphan of Franca Sozzani: 68 presented collections for FW17 and 5 day full of shows. Kendall Jenner "boxed" at Moschino, a sophisticated and seductive revolution at Prada, a tribute to the many souls of women on Marni's runway and 120 looks by Gucci.
Numbers that conceal taste, style, refined aesthetics than ever.

Prada

"We women, today, why are we still here? Because, when you think about our garments, to beauty, feminine seduction discourse must be confined to feathers, flowers, and dresses cut on the bias? I do not have an answer, but I decided to ask the question in my own way, that is with clothes, with my fashion. That's all I can do after seeing the recent demonstrations of women in the United States and around the world. I imagined a city of women. A place to ask ourselves: what is this? And because something is allowed and another not?"

Miuccia Prada reflects on the role of women in shaping modern society to the sound of glitter and sequins, fringe and exquisite decor, the flowers and feathers, tapestry prints and shells. She does so by bringing on the catwalk a powerful aesthetic hyperbole, a chaotic, but aware femininity that amplifies and encapsulates freedom, to dress, to appear, to be. This results in a harmonious din of contradictions held together by needle and thread, creativity and brilliant stylistic vision: wide corduroy trousers, tweed pencil skirt, cocktail skirts decorated with feathers and beads, in thick wool coats, satin dresses or mohair, wool sweaters that sting. Women in this city with its walls covered with polaroids, stickers and reworkings of movie posters of Robert McGinnis, dotted with vintag lamps and beds with leather bed sheets the Italian brand shows its parade more political, in which the everyday life and feminism are contemporary (in every meaning of the term).

Jil Sander

"Everything is very voluminous, fluid, relaxed, feminine"

Few words, uttered by the designer Rodolfo Paglialunga, to describe Jil Sander autumn-winter 2017 collection. The shoulders are exaggerated, rounded, the volumes fluctuating, the textures are protagonists. Ribs, quilting and padding wear a dialogue between body and dress, lurex, cashmere, chenille and cloth between luxury and discretion, then the rigor of jackets and coats, blouses, pull with oval sleeves and rib dresses between male and female. A beautiful palette of tobacco, sugar paper blue, lime yellow, watermelon, powder pink, black and cream enhances the formal elegance, the minimalism, the discreet glam of a collection that could be Paglialunga's farewell to the brand. Persistent rumors claim that Lucie Meier, former Dior, and her husband Luke Meier, designers of OAMC, are already working on Jil Sander SS18 proposal.

Marni

Consuelo Castiglioni has been replaced by Francesco Risso. It's up to him to maintain the minimalist and eccentric aesthetic of Marni's founder and creative director that led the Italian brand to success. But how to do it? With a collection for FW17 inspired by the multiplicity of women's nature, a tribute to their facets, all the women that the designers met in life: mother, sisters, friends, work colleagues. Risso makes fashion for "Be1ngs": "people who enjoy creating their own reality. Create and re-create. Do, undo, combine, collide, merge, hybridize, to infinity and back. Beings who are simply themselves". 
So the young talent stratifies moments: check lingerie over the pull, coats like stuffed animal, ruffled faux furs, floral dresses with dangling laces, those bustier strapless or sports with wide collar, the mix'n match geometries and prints, maxi sequins, the plastic jacquard. The result is a collection in which Risso put all his creativity, a compendium of his capabilities, the inspirations that animate his vision of style, a kaleidoscope perhaps a little immature.

Arthur Arbesser

In a former 19th century industrial bakery in Milan, Arthur Arbesser recreate his own version of the cult movie directed by Wim Wenders Wings of Desire, his East Berlin' 80s, but also Marion's circus, the trapeze artist protagonist of the film. At the Milan Fashion Week the mood is cold, austere, made of black and sharp lines, smooth and cuts sailor dresses, knee-length skirts and men's double. Slowly, a garment after another, the atmosphere warms, fills with pop colors, graphics, prints, checks, clothing striped blue, black, red, white, shirts covered with bronze sheets. The FiveFingers sock sandals is made in collaboration with Vibram brand.

Gucci

Milan. Gucci new headquarters in via Mecenate, a former aircraft factory Caproni company built in 1915, with an area of 35 thousand square meters. Alessandro Michele presents "The Alchemist's Garden". Arrived at the FW17/18 collection of Gucci, the eclectic designer repeats the formula that has conquered the world of fashion: very accurate jumble of inspirations, influences, styles, characters. 120 models, man and woman together, enclosing a colorful bestiary made of cuts, folds, seams, fabrics, summed up perfectly by Vanessa Friedman, the fashion critic of the New York Times:

"Name one, they were in there! Genghis Khan? He wore a floor-sweeping ornate chinoiserie bathrobe, with stripy scarf and knit bobble hat. Punk? Ripped denim shorts over a crystal bodysuit and white muscle T. Queen Elizabeth II? A neat mid-calf baby-blue shift with little white collar and allover crystal embroideries. The Victorian operagoer? A black velvet skirt under a top with ornately fluted velvet-trimmed sleeves. The Gypsy? She wore a dress of 14 colors, sequined and bedazzling, with a rose at the waist"

There is everything and its opposite. There are the Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, the graffiti artist Coco Capit·n, Victorian Britain, the disco, the ouroboros aka the snake that eats its own tail, beetles, roses, butterflies, leaves, bees , cats, tigers, wolves, lace, sequins, ruffles, patchwork, ski masks, oriental fans, ... A curiosity: the invitation to the parade of Gucci is a vinyl record. On side A Florence Welch reads "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" by William Blake to the tune of "Traverse" by the Israeli composer Armand Amar, while on side B A$AP Rocky reads Frederick Wentworth's love letter to Anne Elliot from "Persuasion" by Jane Austen.

MFW, FW17, womanswear, runway, fashion, Marni, Francesco Risso, Jil Sander, Rodolfo Paglialunga, Prada, Miuccia Prada, Gucci, Alessandro Michele, Arthur Arbesser