This weekend that Giulia and I spent in Milan was short but also intense and exciting. Not only we were thrilled to see the shows first hand but there were so many bits before and after them that helped make the weekend one to remember.

The first of the highlights was hanging out at Villa Necchi, where the Tod's presentation was taking place. If being in the company of the Tod's team isn't enough of a pleasure the setting was dream-like. The 1930's villa had this timeless air to it and you could almost feel all the glamourous parties that had happened there over the decades. The garden and the pool at the front, by which Tod's had set up their bar, were the best way to spend a few hours and find refuge form Milan's summer heat.

We were most excited about attending our first Burberry show. Looking at the super cool wooden card invite we buzzed with anticipation. Sharing the beautiful space for the catwalk with some of my  favourite editors like Sally Singer, Bruce Pask and Franca Sozzani was an honour as was bumping into Anna dello Russo on the way in. Other fashion insiders like Tommy Ton and Brad Goreski (who couldn't be missed in that neon orange Jil Sander) were also there.
The day after the show we loved going to the Burberry showroom to be able to have a closer look at the brilliant collection and, in my case, to start making a mental list (or maybe not so mental...) of my musts for s/s12. There we also met part of the lovely Burberry team, who were agreed with us in that us Londoners are not yet ready for the high Italian temperatures.

To top it all off and this is, perhaps, the silliest of our happy moments, we found this picture below among Burberry's press images from the show. You can just about see us but that's Giulia and myself (or a little bit of us) being mesmerised by the Burberry collection. And those people at the front, less important of course, are Julian Morris, Cara Delevingne, Rob Pryor and Jake Cooper looking swell.

Courtesy of Burberry

Courtesy of Burberry, Iñaki C.

The Burberry collections are mostly every time at the top of my list of fashion week highlights. This time even more so as Giulia and I attended our first Burberry show in Milan, which was the main reason why my trip to the city actually took place. And what a collection we saw!

Christopher Bailey got a little whimsical for SS12 with a lot of colours, prints, appliques although, in fact, I would say that the play on materials and textures made the collection. The were, of course, the expected trench coats and macs but they came out in jacquard and suede and finished with wooden beads on the collars. I loved this combination of Burberry's heritage with the innovation in materials and the almost ethnic graphics.

If I had to choose the peaks of the show I would have to mention the raffia and leather shoes (I want!), the geometric-appliqued jumpers and t-shirts and the exquisitely chic prints on shirts and trousers (which will be in my wardrobe as soon as the collection is out).

I also paid a lot of attention to the knits and trousers as they're always two of my favourite items from burberry collections. Bailey has kept the lines of trousers slim and the hemlines almost unnoticeably cropped —so that they're fresh in the summer but still smart— and has made of knitwear more of statement. I remember especially well a blazer-shaped cardigan that would be so handy for chilly summer parties by the sea.
It was, in my opinion, one of the best collections for men Bailey has delivered in seasons and I can't possibly tell you how happy I was to have seen it with my own eyes.
A big thank you to the Burberry team!

The finale of the show with all models carrying the new iPad 2 cases

TrueGrit2

I used to be a big Dsquared2 fan some 6 years ago. For some reason I grew tired of it and their collections really bored me. They made me change my mind about them with their FW09 collection, which did a really quirky take on celebrity street style. Ever since then I have really liked them again. For FW11 they took on the Far West. As I went through the pictures I couldn't but think of True Grit, which has been so talked about both for the stellar performances of Jeff Bridges and Heilee Steinfeld and for the latter's red carpet style. I absolutely love how Dean and Dan always manage to include jeans into any look regardless of its time of origin. I loved their interpretation of this look with the exaggerated hats and long coats. Maybe they should collaborate with the Coen brothers next time for a Black Swan/Rodarte kind of thing.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, screendaily.com, photogallery.filmofilia.com]

Collage Sunday, 27.02.11: Versace goes back to Gianni

I have very seldom posted about Versace on the blog over the last few seasons. Except for the odd red carpet hit it's not a brand that often appeals to me. But every once in a while Donatella rescues some of Gianni's old flavour and manages to create a collection that reminds me of why I loved his brand so much. For fw11 Donatella has done very simple shapes, mostly cocktail dress length and black or white, with bold graphic motifs in purple, yellow and green. These, together with the big gold logo detailing took me back to the Versace of the late 80's and early 90's. I particularly liked the white one-shoulder night number that Abbey Lee rocked on the runway and the incredible bejewelled medusa evening bags, which, I hope, will make a big hit.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

You got Kane'd

Just as it happened to Miu Miu, Versus is walking steadily towards establishing itself as a respected fashion label rather than a giant's diffusion line. Ever since Donatella Versace brought Christopher Kane on board three seasons ago Versus started to become the young, cool and sexy tentacle of the Medusa's head. The SS11 collection was a repetition of über-girly shapes, plaid and florals. It was almost reminiscent of Luella's rebel Punk schoolgirl is she had ever been to boarding school in Italy. Button downs, plaited skirts and badged cardigans were the protagonists. And it's there where we could see Kane's mark —in the Westwood-esque stripes, the sheer tartan and his unmistakable geometric shapes and skirt pleating. More in line with the season's trends, we saw some mesh and some rather clever colour blocking with florals and circusy dresses.

I'm off.

PS. This is the last from Milan. Stay tuned for all the fashion from Paris. Dries Van Noten today! Follow us on twitter for up-to-the minute-updates!

[Pictures: Style.com]

Luxury sportswear

Having seen a calmer side of Marni during the past few seasons it came as almost a shock when the SS11 collection went back to the house's über-eccentric roots. Consuelo Casteglioni, who created Marni in 1994, reminded her audience why her brand became a cult in the first place by bringing together sportswear and luxury. The models walked out turned into sophisticated scuba-divers wearing soft leather, mesh and wet suit fabric cut and ruffled like ordinary dresses and layered over cycling shorts. A fusion taken to the extreme on the maxi-sequinned looks toward the end of the show. Castiglioni made of colour play and prints a statement. The latter varied from the vintage to the contemporary pixelated florals. All of it quirkily topped off with swimming hats, Marni's infamous shades and chunky heels and aerodynamic hair.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

Bold colours & wet hair

Yesterday was one of those fashion week days in which the names on the schedule only create excitement for true fashionistas. Jil Sander was one of those names. Or I had better say Raf Simons. His SS11 collection was tightly connected to what we saw at Pitti for men and yet he added an extra twist to the über bold colours and sleek minimalism we're used to see form him. Tim Blanks explains it perfectly when he says " [a] maximalism, which led him instantly to haute couture". We saw that in the shape of gown skirts and dresses that were paired up with more casual pieces like t-shirts and sheer tops. In addition to his signature block hues we saw horizontal and vertical stripes and flowers prints that, while secondary, made the collection even more contemporary.

Bottega Veneta has been growing on me incessantly over the past few seasons. I admire established fashion houses who refrain from being stuck in the past and take risks hiring designers that wouldn't necessarily completely understand their vision. That was the risk (or safe bet as we can refer to it now) when Tomas Maier was hired. The focus was put on the construction and the tailoring which turned fabrics in to easy-to-wear light-weight garments. In fact, the ease of the collection is its most appealing aspect. In line with Acquascutum's "just out of bed" girl from last season, Maier gets the girl right out of the shower and onto flats because she is so confident she only needs perfectly made clothes to feel sexy.

I have to admit that the best part of watching the Pucci SS11 show online was the fact that Mademoiselle Agnès was in charge of walking around interviewing guests with her flawed but chic command of the English language. If any conclusion was to be drawn from what everyone said to her that should be that the Pucci woman is, above all, sexy. And she is sexy because Pucci is ageless (at least in the industry where older women dare to bare their legs), it is sensual rather than slutty and it has that boho chic air every woman loves. Peter Dunda's brought back the Ibiza of the 70's for SS11 in the shape of clothes people like Anna dello Russo would wear to the beach. Gauzy skirts short at the front and flowy at the bottom, backless long-sleeved mini dresses, pompoms and lots and lots of ruffles.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, TheSartorialist.blogspot.com]

The Lady In The Tutti-Frutti Hat

If 24 hours ago anyone had said to me that Miuccia's main inspiration for her Prada SS11 collection was Carmen Miranda I would have never believed them. As it turns out, it was. The Italian genius took Miranda's samba and her famous tutti-frutti hats and she put them into the Prada blender and added a little Warholian spices. The result is what Miuccia herself referred to as 'minimal baroque'. The collection opened with plain one-piece dresses in bold colours and soon gave way to endless bright stripes and cartoony prints with elegant and modern silhouettes. It closed with glamourous LBDs accompanied by (my favourite) 'shrimp' furs, a perfect match for the flapper hairdos that dominated the show.

For those of you unfamiliar with Carmen Miranda's work, have a look at the video below. It is probably her most iconic song and show and you can totally picture Prada's models walking around he fictitious island. My favourite part is that grand finale with the bananas rocketing out of her hat and the tree-high strawberries. What an amazing show that would have been!

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, theSartorialist.blogspot.com, Kidsmodern.com, vintagetextile.com, wilsonsalmanac.com, alexgofman.net]

the cherry on top

Milan Fashion Week wrapped up yesterday after four days of non-stop hit collections. I was in awe of the usuals (Zegna, Jil Sander, Burberry) but what made things even better was the fact that Domenico and Stefano at Dolce & Gabbana and D&G really showed why they became so popular in the first place. Going away from the usual Italian stereotypes of gold sneakers and stuffed shirts and ripped jeans, the Italian duo keeps finding inspiration in the country's traditional clothing and putting it through their funnel to bring their clothes to the present. For the D&G line, which I haven't liked since I was 16, they gave us a picnic orgy of gingham and espadrilles. They created mono-colour outfits that played with patterns, prints and texture. Everything was extremely wearable, fresh and, yes, desirable.

Dean and Dan at Dsquared2 were my second surprise of the week. I normally find their collections really fun and clever but too stuck into their own cliched Italian-ness. For SS11, however, their found inspiration in the classic 'American Gigolo'. Personally, I think they couldn't have chosen a theme that suited them better. The 80's vibe works amazingly with the really modern colours of the tucked-in t-shirts and tight straight-legged jeans. Their collection also had that kind of cocky attitude they always add to their clothes but this time it was a cool kind of cockiness when men slick their hair back and leave undone a few buttons on their shirts for the walk of shame they will enjoy.

And now we're on to Paris. It's only getting better. Which was your favourite collection from MFW?
I'm off.

[Pictures: GQ.com, larapixie.blogspot.com]

Forza Italia

Even though Jil Sander and Haider Ackermann had been the first catwalk shows to open the SS11 season at the Pitti trade fair Men's fashion week officially kicked off in Milan yesterday with big names the likes of Burberry Prorsum and Dolce & Gabbana opening. I am trying hard to catch up as I was flying home yesterday so I decided to sum up the first of the first day in one post. I will, from now on, try to make individual posts of my favourite shows and review them.

Jil Sander was the first show to be streamed live and both the collection and the location of the show lived up to the excitement that first shows entail. Talk about colour blocking. Raf Simons epitomised the famous trend with taste and skill. The bold colours appeared to have been carefully hand-picked to only use the best shades, including the über-famous Klein blue. Tailoring was the protagonist of the collection, with slight variations like crotch-scrathing shorts and belted blazers. And the colourful soles of the shoes were to die for.

Christopher Bailey made me smile. Despite how much I loved the shearling jackets from Burberry Prorsum's FW10 collection I was overall a little disappointed in Bailey's restraint. That's why I loved SS11 so much. The Burberry essence is ever present in the shape of the staple suits and trench coats and the brand's iconic colours. But SS11 introduced a hardness factor by means of leather and spikes that seems almost medieval which creates the most interesting combinations of texture in contrast with the remains of Burberry's traditional romantic softness. A collection absolutely packed with future best-selling items.

Domenico and Stefano already redirected their men's line for FW10 taking inspiration from the Sicily of the 1920's. They opted for the kind of all-star Italian clothing that had put Italy in the fashion map in the past. Fortunately, they continued to follow that line for SS11. They celebrated their 20 anniversary with the most delightful colour palette of whites and faded greys and blues. The kind of clothes a Mediterranean man was expected to wear for Sunday mass when the sun was shine bright and hot. I absolutely melt at the light creme and white combos for suits and the utterly retro underwear.

To me, Corneliani was all about the trousers. They took the baggy linen suit trouser Armani has been doing for years and reformatted it for the younger, cooler man. They wrinkle just the right amount at the bottom to add a touch of casualness without the risk of looking sloppy.

Season after season I always love Trussardi. There is something so Italian and so cool about it that simply drives me crazy. For SS11 they picked up on leopard just as so many women's Cruise'11 lines did. And they did so in just the right amount so as to not look tacky. It is true YSL had done the same belt before and Acne the same desert boots but Trussardi takes it to a new level by creating jackets in blue and khaki leopard prints that hadn't been done before in menswear. I simply can't wait to get a hold of most of the pieces from this collection.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, GQ.com, DianePernet.typepad.com]

Milan highlights

Whether is was entirely due to Anna Wintour's preferences or not, Milan fashion week occurred way too fast. We almost didn't have enough time to savour every collection the way they deserved. As it happened in London, the Italians proved that they know the direction they're going and that they haven't lost that savoire faire that first made them so popular. For the first time, I have organised the collections in order of my liking (excluding, of course, Marni and No. 21 which deserved special mention). Dolce & Gabbana pleasantly surprised me this season rooting back to their great basics and putting special emphasis in power dressing. Gucci, who in past seasons seemed unfocused, came back better than ever with an ode to Tom Ford times. While Donatella is still trying to find something that deserves having his brother's name on the tag, Christopher Kane's intervention at Versus succeeded in bringing the brand back into fashion from obsoleteness. —What's your favourite?

[Pictures: Style.com]

I'm off.

italian cubism

March is a month that makes me happy. My birthday and the start of the spring coincide halfway through the month and that means I can start stocking up on items for the new season. This is why this morning I decided to post about one of my favourite collections so far —Consuelo Castiglioni's Marni. Nothing could be more glorious than a sunny London morning with a cup of coffee, Mozart's operas on the background, and Casteglioni's creations to behold.

Having a longer and closer look at the collection earlier this morning, a certain piece of art suddenly popped into mind. I see Marni as the clothing equivalent of Picasso's cubist reinterpretation of Las Meninas by Velázquez. Drawing similarities between Casteglioni and Picasso might be a daring thing to do, some might argue, but their creative processes are not afar. Just as Pablo, Consuelo has used staples and reinvented them by means of shape and colour. Like cubism, Marni is not apt for amateurs, it requires years of close scrutiny and appreciation. Are you a Marni acolyte?

[Pictures: Style.com]

I'm off.

turban is the new hat

Looking at Maurizio Pecoraro's collection it isn't hard to understand why Nicole Phelps recommends a more focused collection to stand out among the Italian biggies. But if one also stops and considers that sometimes an intelligent array of wearable clothes is always in demand Pecoraro's collection can bring to your wardrobe the utilitarian pieces with a restrained designer character. That being said, I have to admit to my infatuation with his turbans. This season more and more people have been twittering about the beauty details of the catwalk as much as about the clothes. I would love for some of these (turbans and Aquascutum hair and make-up at the top of the list) to become actual trends. Which beauty work have you liked the most so far?

[Pictures: style.com]

I'm off.

ritornare

Ever since mens fashion week I started to be a little worried about how long it had been since I had seen anything from Alessandro dell'Acqua walk the catwalk. And I was more than a little ashamed for not knowing why. That is why today's morning visit to Style.com became a very comforting experience. It turns out the designer parted ways with his old brand and has now started a new one, No. 21, named after his lucky number and birth date. Sigh.

[Pictures: Style.com]

Dell'Acqua has never been one of the biggest names in designer casual wear but his FW10 line contained many utilitarian pieces such as the LBD or the trouser suit. I have always loved this flirtatious young Italian essence in his creations, a kind of not-in-your-face Italian-ness. I am so happy he's back.

I'm off.

what happened in Milan

Milan Fashion Week was only the first half of all the good things to come for menswear. However, it has been a very exciting few days thanks to the live streaming of the fashion shows and all the twittering going on. I am overall very pleased with what I have seen. Designers have restrained themselves and have hence found new ways to let go of their prodigality via textures and colours. My biggest joy? —Gucci and the return of the turtle neck and blazer combo. Which collection was your favourite?

[Pictures credit: GQ.com]

I'm off.