Milan Fashion Week SS20: 5 best moments from Missoni, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci

MISSONI: POOL PARTY

Favourite looks: If Marc Jacobs can teach a MasterClass in fashion design and Diane von Furstenberg is talking to young people about building a fashion brand, then Angela Missoni is surely capable of lecturing about prints. An expert in the clash, she excels this season more than she has in recent history, thanks to spring/summer 2020's excellent styling. Stripes, dots, florals, chevron... you name it, she makes sense of them like she's creating her very own Jackson Pollock, or compositional Rorschach, if that's how her mind works.

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Favourite detail: Missoni is known for her dominion over scarves. She elevates them here by stacking them around the neck, knotting them around the head, looping them alone around the waist or with a belt, and wrapping them over wicker baskets.

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Favourite accessories: The super quirky mismatched earrings and cuffs are great entry point for those who need to be eased into the print-on-print-on-print method.

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DOLCE & GABBANA: PREDATOR AND PREY

Favourite looks: It's hard not to imagine what might be going through the minds of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. After all, they are the duo behind the biggest fashion scandal since John Galliano's exit from Christian Dior in 2011. Both incidents involve racial slurs, both will be forever remembered for their indiscretions. The main difference is that Dolce and Gabbana didn't lose their jobs. So what of it? In SS20, they take on the wild. It's probably a stretch to think this concept is in any way cerebral, but if we were to give D&G the benefit of the doubt, we'd say they did a decent job with a commercial interpretation of a dog-eat-dog world — which is, unsurprisingly, full of glam moments amidst the horror of real life.

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Favourite detail: In the past, Dolce & Gabbana had many a time opened their shows with an army of black dresses. Here, they conjure a safari selection instead, the best way they know how. Think: a skin-tight leopard print blouse with itty-bitty bubble shorts, a corset constructed from wood, raffia, and sequins, and the like.

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Favourite accessories: Those leather sunglasses from look 14, that micro belt bag from look 32, and the sheer sock stilettos from look 67. Hey, if you're going to be fabulously impeccable, run with it and don't apologise, you know?

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GUCCI: WHAT'S NORMAL ANYWAY?

Favourite looks: Let's get something out of the way. The "straightjacket" pieces presented during Gucci's opening act are unlikely to be commercial pieces. Instead, they personify complex statements Creative Director Alessandro Michele wants to make about the death of individuality and creativity through uniformity, the censorship of people, and the crisis of 'normal'. Well-crafted as they are, they are not — and therefore should not be considered — trendy.

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The real collection is worthy of intellectual discussions too. Partly because it’s the cleanest Michele has designed since his Gucci tenure, partly because it’s the first time he is explicitly political. Citing biopolitics in his show notes, he wishes his clothes to represent a resistance to the policing of women’s bodies. Other than showing skin (his first look bares all, literally and figuratively), he breaks the fashion rules he knows well. Conservative sweaters are accessorised with S&M patent leather gloves; an otherwise austere shift maxi is split in two by a panel of gild; and whips are carried with bags in looks that also feature a pope-like collar.

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Favourite detail: The Gucci show is said to be carbon neutral. About 80% of materials used at the show are either completely recyclable or reusable, show notes printed on special green paper. As there are an estimated 2000 people behind the show — including corporate staff, workers, guests, etc — Gucci plans to plant 2000 trees in compensation of the energy we consume.

Favourite accessories: Handgun holster? No, thank you. Lipstick holster? Why, hell yes! And that pillow harness cheekily turns practicality on its head. Brilliant.

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See all the coverage from Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2020.