Trend

Milan & Paris Fashion Week AW21

The most awaited moment by fashion enthusiasts (and many more) has arrived, and the spotlights are once again on the creations of the big international maisons. Which presented the Autumn-Winter 2021/22 collections on the men’s Milan and Paris Fashion Week catwalks. In spite of the current restrictions on the Covid-19 pandemic, the protagonists of the contemporary scenario – from Fendi to Dior Men and Loewe – unveiled their new proposals, resorting to creative solutions that’ve further redefined the concept of ‘fashion show’. Inaugurating MFW-Milan Fashion Week was Italian brand Ermenegildo Zegna, which proposed a fluid, versatile and comfortable collection through the fashion film ‘THE (RE)SET: (RE)TAILORING THE MODERN MAN’. Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director of the men’s and accessory collections for the brand that bears her surname, brought to the catwalk an exploration of the concepts of ‘colour’, ‘light’ and ‘darkness’, answering the question ‘What is normal today?’. Among ethnic pieces of jewellery, logo baseball caps and leather accessories of all shapes and sizes, Etro presented a collection full of colour, hope and, of course, the willingness to express one’s individuality. Massimo Giorgetti, founder and creative director of MSGM, imagined an explorer in a snowy landscape for his AW21 proposal ‘Vertigine’, taking as his starting point the quote of mountaineer Walter Bonatti ‘the highest mountain is always inside of us’. Remaining within the Italian scenario, designer Walter Chiapponi enlisted young promise of cinema Lorenzo Zurzolo, asking him to wear, in the #SevenT fashion film, the classic clothes and garments from the new Tod’s collection. K-Way and A-COLD-WALL* brought to the catwalk the encounter between formal and sporty elements, for a look as versatile as contemporary. Deserving a special mention is the Q&A that closed the presentation of the first Prada collection designed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. As to PFW-Paris Fashion Week, J.W. Anderson sent down the catwalk clothes and accessories that transported us back to the origins of the brand, that’s ‘a primitive play with materials’. The poet of black Yohji Yamamoto stayed true to himself, designing a monochrome collection, through which he reflected on the times we’re living. On the Dior Men catwalk, we saw a proposal born out of the encounter between the codes of haute couture and the world of Scottish painter Peter Doig, for a ‘military style’ reinterpreted in a contemporary way. Lastly, young designer Jonathan Anderson presented, with his ‘Show in A Book’ format, Loewe’s new collection, with which he’s payed homage to the artistic practice of Joe Brainard and, among 90’s striped jumpers and leather trousers with zippers, laces and belts, has given free reign to his love for subcultures. The Autumn-Winter 2021/22 Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks have definitely shown us how, in hard times, the creative industries play a fundamental role, fueling our hopes and dreams.