Rain forced more than one fashion house to scramble for indoor locations in Milan and fashionistas to find a way to move about the gridlocked Italian city without the threat of a drenching Friday.
Some scenes from inside the runway shows on the third day of Milan Fashion Week ’s mostly womenswear previews for Spring-Summer 2024.
IT’S A BARBIE WORLD AT VERSACE
Donatella Versace tapped the Barbie zeitgeist with a collection that managed to be both girlish and sophisticated at the same time.
In Versace’s Barbie world, gingham and checks were the stars, in mostly pastels, the perfect palette for straight mini-dresses, flouncy shorts and collarless skirt suits, featuring pretty details like covered buttons and bow-shaped barrettes.
And where there is Barbie, Ken is sure to follow, wearing a blue silken shirt tucked lazily into black trousers, or a lime-green leisure suit. He is not above borrowing Barbie’s embroidered twinset.
Versace knows how to close a runway show, bringing out Gigi Hadid in a slinky yellow dress with a plunging neckline, followed by Claudia Schiffer in a lime-and-silver check slip dress. Kendall Jenner opened the show in a satiny white shift and silver shoes.
—With AP Photographer Antonio Calanni.
SWEET FAREWELL AT TOD’S
Sharon Stone, Quinta Brunson and Olivia Palermo had front-row seats for the curtain call of Tod’s designer Walter Chiapponi, who is moving on after four years at the brand.
Models traversed a cavernous workshop filled with carpentry, classical statues and the painted backdrops for La Scala opera house productions, shadowed by a robot video camera on wheels. The setting underlined Tod’s fusing of traditional Italian craftsmanship with technology.
Chiapponi’s swan song collection focused on essential luxury, featuring clean lines and an understated color story in mostly muted monochromes but enlivened by some acid green.
