It was a fashion month full of debuts, departures, minimalism, maximalism and avant-garde design.
Over the course of the month’s countless shows and headlines it’s hard to pull out the main shows and talking points. This series of articles will pick out some of the most noteworthy shows and fashion news from fashion month SS24.
We saw multiple high profile debuts from Peter Do, designing for Helmut Lang; Peter Hawkings, for designing for Tom Ford and Sabato de Sarno for Gucci. We also saw departures from Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen after 23 years with the label, and Gabriella Hearst showed her last collection for Chloé.
If you want to read about the other weeks you can find them here.
MILAN
Gucci
(Image from vmagazine.com)
Judging by their shares rising by 4 percent following Sabato de Sarno’s debut show, it's fair to say that Gucci has made the right move by appointing him as Creative Director.
He named the show “Ancora” which translates too again, but not in the sense of repeating but rather de Sarno described it as the desire to have or see something “again, again and again.”
De Sarno’s collection was a breath of fresh air after Alessandro Michelle’s eccentric maximalist Gucci. The show was a definite stripping back of Michelle’s Gucci. It felt like de Sarno was presenting a perfect stage for him to build his vision for the new Gucci. This is a different approach than both Tom Ford and Alessandro Michelle took when stepping into the position. Instead of coming in and turning the entire brand on its head, de Sarno has stripped it back to basics and he will slowly build his vision. Based on the rise in share price this has created considerable intrigue and anticipation for what's to come during his tenure at the brand. But left many critics arguing that he could’ve pushed it farther in order to put his stamp on it.
Bottega Veneta
(Image from hypebae.com)
“The idea was blending worlds. We took inspiration from literally all around the world: South America, Southeast Asia, Russia, Brittany, Sicily … we tried to blend them to create some kind of new culture” Matthieu Blazy told Vogue backstage at the SS24 show. This show was. A far departure from de Sarno’s stripped-back Gucci show that focused on the base layer of Gucci. At Bottega Blazy was thinking anything but small; he wanted to take his guests on a trip around the world and demonstrate Bottega’s signature craftsmanship while he did.
This show demonstrated Bottega’s attention to detail and impeccable craft. Like the red dress pictured above made from leather but appears to be draped perfectly over the model. The shaggy longline coat appears like fur but is made from cotton or wool.
The show exemplifies the world of possibilities that are available when garment construction and the ability to work with materials is at this level.
Prada
(Image from vogue.co.th)
Raf Simons was proving a point with this show, he wanted to demonstrate that Prada is underrated when it comes to their craftsmanship and that they should be talked about in the same breath as brands like Bottega who have expert craftsmanship in their DNA. “craft isn’t something that gets talked about a lot at Prada, at least not as much as at other houses. We wanted to show what we could do.” Simons told Vogue
Tailoring was also at the forefront of this show, which showcased broad structured shoulders accentuated by having garments tucked into belted waists. This was a theme that was carried through the entire collection for blazers shirts and dresses, of which many showcased a belted waist.
When talking about craftsmanship, Simons mentioned printing onto fringe garments which gave said fringe garments a new allusion of depth that may have otherwise lacked.
The dresses shown throughout the show were extremely intriguing, they gave the impression of liquid and mirrored the slime coming down from the ceiling. It looked like the dresses were wrapping around the models as they walked.The train/cape at the back only added to this allusion by making it appear that the dress was carrying into the wind behind the model.
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