Milan Fashion Week has bombarded us with ostentatious designs offered by these 6 fashion houses who are leading with their Fall-Winter 2023/24 collections.
Every well-dressed fashion-week attendee who has been dashing around Milan for the last week may have already packed up their belongings and jetted off to Paris. However, one thing is for sure: They are still very much thinking about everything they just witnessed in the Italian fashion capital, and they are not stopping anytime soon. That is because, although Paris is the most lauded of the fashion-month destinations, it is Milan that, in the eyes of many, hosts today’s most anticipated shows.
Sexiness was key for the major collections presented during Milan Fashion Week. For instance, Diesel’s fall-winter 2023 promoted sex positivity and bold shredded designs with The White Lotus’ Haley Lu Richardson in tow. Models walked around a mound of 200,000 Durex condoms boxes, underlining a safe-sex message but also a capsule collection with the condom brand that is set to drop in April. “Sex positivity is something extraordinary.” The brand said. Dolce Gabbana’s fall 2023 show was all about classic silhouettes and elegant styling, as the duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana opened their show with a black sheer dress accessorised with a furry collar and black gloves.
These are just some of the examples that exemplify what we saw during MFW. However, ahead see the boldest runway shows and the emerging fashion trend by perusing the best looks from Milan Fashion Week.
MOSCHINO
Creative director, Jeremy Scott, unveiled his latest Moschino Fall 2023 collection inspired by Salvador Dali’s iconic painting, “The Persistence of Memory”, which served as the inspiring muse for Scott’s Surrealism-inspired collection. Jeremy Scott also merged Salvador Dalí-esque surrealism inspirations with aristo-punk. This one was less gimmicky and more commercial, hinged on vaguely 1980s Ladies Who Lunch suits and prim coats with some serious warping going on. Hemlines, buttons, contrast trims, floral and houndstooth prints appeared to be melting and dripping like Salvador Dalí’s clocks. Black pumps oozed some extra sole. Scott then switched gears, supplanting the Surrealist motif with brooch-sized jewels swarming over black suiting, biker jackets, handbags and ankle boots. Let minimalism gather steam on other runways: Scott wasn’t having any of it, gilding everything to the hilt. “These (literally) twisted codes are creative director Jeremy Scott’s way of toying with convention and setting the stage for what follows: An insouciant punk spirit, dripping with decadence. As the collection progresses, this revolutionary verve surfaces, with spikes, for example, set along shoulder seams and skirt hems.
PRADA
Co-creative directors Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada unveiled their latest collection for Prada Fall 2023. The brand played with uniform dressing – as in clean, minimal and tailored.“For me, the real meaning of what we do is to bring importance to the everyday,” Miuccia Prada said. “Everyday life deserves beautiful things. Because every day of life counts.” “Uniforms are sartorial representations of care and responsibility, transformed utilising the aesthetic language of evening wear”, it says in the show notes. “Wedding dresses, symbols of love, become everyday attire, their skirts proposed with sweaters as a new form of quotidian dress. This exchange, between the notion of everyday and occasion wear, the familiar and the exceptional, gives a different importance to both.” – From Prada.
ROBERTO CAVALLI
For the Fall 2023 season, the designer showcased his latest ready-to-wear collection, transporting the Cavalli woman into the American southwest. A warm and earthy colour palette took centre stage, while denim blues, blacks, and faux fur were also seen during the runway show. Turquoise stones were spotted as opulent jewellery pieces. On the runway show, the collection also featured fabrics moving like water as shirts flood open and kimonos stream behind. Floor-length dresses flew, and woolly coats poured onto the runway, too. “It’s my first true Cavalli collection,” said creative director Fausto Puglisi.
DIESEL
Italian label Diesel unveiled its latest Fall 2023 collection during Milan Fashion Week. Against a giant backdrop of 200,000 condoms, Belgian creative director Glenn Martens wanted to nod to both sex positivity and explore themes of freedom, pleasure and experimentation. “We like to play at Diesel, and we are serious about it,” Martens said in a statement. “Have fun, respect each other, and be safe.”. Denim remained the protagonist, but it transformed. Models also strutted around the condom avalanche in ultra-low-rise jeans, denim garments, ripped silk dresses and more. The runway show was accompanied by a techno soundtrack to reinforce Diesel’s message of pushing boundaries. The collection also featured leftover nylon coated with plastic and heated, deadstock faux fur painted, blow-torched biker jackets, and more.
DOLCE & GABBANA
“Sensuality is an important aspect of femininity that has nothing to do with being sexy,” the two designers said in show notes. “Sensuality is intrinsically connected to an inner experience that makes women spontaneous and natural. Free of any fabrication.” They continued. These were some of the statements the duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said about their fall 2023 runway show. The latest collection showcased trouser suits, coats, sheer black dresses, cropped lack jackets, and shiny gold and silver designs, including draped dresses and belted macs. The Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2023 collection also featured red looks, tights and shoes, white satin, chiffon dresses, trouser suits, and coats.
GUCCI
Marking Gucci’s final runway collection ahead of Sabato De Sarno’s debut as creative director, the Fall 2023 collection unfolded within the anatomy of the House and a new concept of heritage, which took shape in the latest collection. Evocative silhouettes, the era, attitudes and the reintroduction of the archival trapezoid-shaped chain “maxi Horsebit” bag added a new dimension to the House’s heritage. The collection featured relaxed suiting, slashed trousers, faux fur ensembles, trench coats, striped shirting, baggy jeans, and more. Leather co-ords, rhinestones-encrusted mesh dresses, and the iconic Jackie Bag also were central to the collection.