Make way for men for a promising Fashion week in Milan
A wind of optimism is blowing over Men’s Fashion Week which opened on Friday in Milan: the virtual format imposed by the pandemic seems relegated to oblivion and sales of Italian fashion are showing the strongest growth in the past twenty years.
Return of Gucci to the men’s catwalks after a three-year absence, debut of avant-garde Scottish designer Charles Jeffrey, a total of 79 appointments, of which only four digital… fashion week promises spectacle and joy to live.
Nothing replaces “the live experience, the frenzy, the expectation, the applause, the top models parading on the catwalk and the powerful music” which thrills the public, commented for AFP the fashion consultant Elisabetta Cavatorta.
Men’s Fashion Week, dedicated to the fall-winter 2023/2024 collections, will run until Tuesday and will see 22 shows and 36 presentations.
The collections should, according to the expert, give pride of place to “trendy clothes that will last over time, thus bringing us back to the importance of a return to + slow fashion +”, at the antipodes of industrial fashion, “and to sustainability”.
– Gucci, the return –
The luxury house Gucci opened Fashion Week on Friday with its first, highly anticipated show since the departure at the end of November of its emblematic artistic director Alessandro Michele.
In a minimalist show, far from the eccentricities of its former stylist, Gucci wanted to celebrate “the aesthetics of improvisation”, with a collection inspired by the classic gentleman’s wardrobe, revisited in a subversive spirit.
The Gucci man likes fluid and supple materials and is not afraid to mix genres and colors, combining faded jeans with sequined tops and green, red or pink heeled boots from the 70s.
Long, sophisticated coats are worn over loose trousers or slit maxi-skirts revealing the legs. Among the essential accessories, wool hats, rectangular shopping bags or garment bags worn casually on the shoulder.
Called to the rescue in 2015 to revive sluggish sales, Alessandro Michele had given the brand, the Kering group’s flagship brand, a new lease of life with daring collections, often very flowery and playful.
If its collections had exploded Gucci’s sales at its beginnings (+37% in 2017 and +44% in 2018), in the last two years their progress has lagged behind competitors.
“Lately, creativity has started to stall and I believe that would also be felt in sales,” explained Elisabetta Cavatorta.
“It remains to be seen whether the departure of Alessandro Michele initiates a change of direction for the fashion house” and paves the way for “a revolution in terms of style and sophistication”, she notes.
Pending the appointment of a successor, eagerly awaited by fashionistas and the markets, it is Gucci’s design studio which has provided artistic direction for the Milan fashion show.
– Soaring revenue –
Armani, Prada, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Zegna… the big brands have answered the call for men’s week. But there have also been defections, such as that of Versace, which will unveil its men’s and women’s collections on March 10 in Los Angeles.
Despite the war in Ukraine and the impact of the energy crisis on a very energy-intensive supply chain, Italian fashion posted revenues up 16% in 2022, to 96.6 billion euros.
“It’s the highest turnover of the last twenty years,” said Carlo Capasa, the president of the Italian Fashion Chamber, during the presentation of Fashion Week.
Revenues have certainly been inflated by inflation, as prices for Italian fashion have risen by around 9% in 2022, but their rise is “a positive sign that closes a year marked by dramatic events and difficult times” , Judge M. Capasa.