FW21 Fendi Men's
Milan Fashion Week has had the unenviable task of having to anticipate the fluctuations in virus-related restrictions. Italy’s first lockdown was announced in-between shows last February, and the phyigtal experiences of FW21 have steadily led us back behind our screens. Now entering another lockdown, the city is suffering, and luxury fashion is low on the list of priorities. When the industry is discussed, its relevance is routinely questioned but what remains to be seen is whether questioning alone is enough?
Circumstance has pushed the Fashion industry to use the last year as an opportunity to test how much of Fashion Week’s physical experience can be replaced by digital alternatives — a question worth asking but impossible to answer, at least for now. Every fashion journalist would’ve been happy to ditch their sweatpants and attend physical events, but to do so would also revert their lives back to stressful months of chaotic show schedules and paracetamol. Live shows potentially offer more opportunity to create impactful sensory experiences, but the necessity to show collections digitally has given brands the opportunity to experiment beyond the outdated show formats of the pre-pandemic world. Less costly, less draining and less polluting, it is a new, unglamorous but contemporary, way of narrating fashion.
Less costly, less draining and less polluting, it is a new, unglamorous but contemporary, way of narrating fashion.
Sunnei FW21
Some labels have avidly seized the opportunity to explore the digital frontier’s offerings. Sunnei has anticipated gaming to be fashion’s next dominant medium of communication. The label launched a dedicated digital platform known as Canvas, during the early stages of the pandemic and has proactively engaged buyers and retailers by allowing them to create variations of Sunnei collections to their personal specification. This has allowed them to offer bespoke pieces whilst also eliminating any possibility of samples going to waste. An unexpected highlight from this season’s showcase was the charming French bulldog avatar, who features as the brand’s pet-wear model.
Having already shown a degree of disassociation towards traditional catwalks, Danish designer Han Kjøbenhavn also presented his new collection with a fashion video inspired by fellow Dane, Hans Christian Andersen. The film translated the brand’s dark and industrial identity into powerful visuals.
Han Kjøbenhavn FW21
Zegna FW21
Zegna also took advantage of digital opportunities, offering viewers a glimpse into their focus on innovation. The brand presented a video framing Milan’s new landmarks and transporting viewers into a collision between outdoors and indoors serving as a metaphor for the flux our lives are currently experiencing. Whilst the collection certainly bore the grading of evolution rather than revolution, the tailoring embodied modernity thanks to innovative cuts and fabrics.
Some labels opted to engage audiences through the more familiar visual presentation medium of a runway film. Silvia Venturini Fendi’s collection boasted timely attempts to combine traditional ready-to-wear silhouettes and luxe fabrics with design nods to loungewear and the WFH-era which we now reside in. Rather than attempting to take itself too seriously, the collection offered an approach tinted with a layer of humour and denoted that it had been designed in a positive verve. In turbulent times, such sentiments sit in juxtaposition to the aforementioned stress that often consumed design teams in the lead up to Fashion Weeks in previous years.
Fendi FW21 Men's
K-WAY’s debut presentation in the Milanese kermesse also opted for a runway fashion film. The impressive collection would have been ideally experienced live given the brand’s sporty identity, but the boldness of debuting in Milan during a pandemic is not to be overlooked.
The first menswear offerings from the co-creative directorship of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were displayed in bright and furry rooms designed by Rem Koolhaas. Neither outdoors nor indoors, the environment served as non-spaces that had the capability of hosting both the reality and fantasy worlds we gladly visit from time to time. The collection, named ‘Possible Feelings’ delivered on it’s name with endless styling options displayed. Whilst we do not know what next year’s affair will look like, we certainly know how we would like it to be: colourful, elegant, and beautiful, but also timid, modest and uncertain of which way to go. Alone, but still dancing.