Milan Fashion Week fall/winter 2019: Marni, Missoni and Giorgio Armani

TWO MOST SURPRISING MOMENTS
1. Old speakers, unused air conditioners, retired vents and exposed wires dressed the abandoned warehouse of a set at Marni, a technique very much in line with designer Francesco Risso’s predilection for recycled materials.
2. For editors, influencers, buyers and VIPs to write about, shout about, and buy the clothes you’re trying to sell, aside from giving them a good product, showing them in the best possible light should be crucial to your business. Surprisingly, for a business spanning 65 years, Missoni falters on this front. The entire show space was washed in a moody blue ambience — itself not an issue if the spot lighting was quick and effective when the models came on. Failing that, entire sections and rows only see the clothes up front — you guessed it — in blue. On top of it, when the light did shine, it was so harsh, models’ complexions were rendered pale, imperfections distracting.

FOUR TRENDIEST ACCESSORIES
1. Okay, the ball and chain belt accessorising almost every look at Marni isn’t exactly related to the idiom about the realities of matrimony, but we’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the angst and the terror the fall/winter 2019 show evoked is no different than those experienced in wedlock.
2. Punk bids for a return at Marni. Don’t believe us? Stream the show and turn on the volume on loud — the soundtrack alone, a remix of the score from The Shining and Kas Product’s ‘Pussy X’ alone will put you in the right frame of mind. Then there’s the matter of the finer details, such as the spiked hoop earrings, the kind you would expect to see if you time-travelled back to an underground club in Berlin in 1987.
3. Unpopular opinion or popular opinion? The fall/winter 2019 collection wasn’t Angela Missoni’s best work. More about the clothes later. Though, the knit bowler hats were adorable.
4. “How do you shake up a suit” is the type of questions one asks Giorgio Armani if they had the opportunity to chat with the man backstage. We imagine him to reference the safety (or is it pilot?) goggles he put on the men.

SEVEN FAVOURITE LOOKS
1. The eyes are drawn in every direction of look #5 of Marni’s fall/winter 2019 showcase. The top boasts an asymmetrical dual shoulder, contrast stitching and raw lace trim. A checkered sarong makes play at the bottom. Pleated, tucked and belted in gold. Then there’s the boots, concurrently slick and chunky. It’s dizzying on paper. Nevertheless, Francesco Risso’s controlled proportion makes it a lewk.
2. Excuse me, this isn’t just a little black dress. At a glance, Marni look #9 is an unorthodox cocktail uniform dyed in ink with a greasy finish... then accessorised like a rebel. Up close, it is a masterpiece in texture; the ruching on the bust is applied to a fabric embossed and pinched, let flow around the hips. It is met with a skirt pleated in gradually softer intensity, draped for fluidity in movement, with metallic pop buttons fashioning one side but not the other. A classic made adapted for 2019.
3. Scarves are a tricky thing, especially when not donned for warmth, but for style. Tie one way and it looks dowdy, another and it leans towards the bourgeoisie. Make it a part of the outfit, then you might have something. Something like Marni’s in look #22 — all red-hot in silk and leather, worn like a badge of honour. Our only wish: that we saw this brand of punk-itude developed more generously in this confined collection. Risso is certainly has the chops for it.
4. While we heartily encourage boys (oh excuse us, we mean men) to wear pink, those who aren’t secure enough yet in their masculinity to wear a true bubblegum or cotton candy hues should first dip their toes into Missoni look #9. The pink-to-black ombré coat is divine, as is the chevron sweater and tinkled check trousers. Experimental, yet familiar enough for traditionalists.
5. Truth be told, the series of knit belts from Missoni didn’t translate very well across the fall/winter 2019 collection. But when it worked, it soared. Rendered in mandarin corsage for look #23, it was the jolt of energy the chill, monochromatic ensemble (as is already pretty swanky) needed to go from ‘good’ to ‘damn girl’.
6. First Gucci, then Sportmax, now Giorgio Armani. Jodhpur pants — complete with buttons along the calves — are racing to the forefront of trends for the upcoming fall/winter season. They make a glamorous comeback in look #19 of Giorgio Armani; it’s not like they have a choice, when constructed in ka-ching velvet and styled with an embellished bomber that appear to have taken hours to conceive.
7. The tuxedo suit relaxes at Giorgio Armani, perhaps indicative of a designer (finally!) ready to ease out of the moulds that which made him a legend. In shades before midnight — the collection wasn’t named Rhapsody in Blue for nuthin’ — and grounded with a workman blue shirt, this really is a (and we’re aware this sounds so fashion it hurts) day-to-night sartorial operation. If only Armani explored and exercised this newfound design dexterity throughout his fall/winter 2019 effort. Hope springs eternal, Armani. See you in September.

All coverage from Milan Fashion Week fall/winter 2019.