BEAUTY: Clothing--Dolce and Gabbana

Hot on the heels of Pitti Uomo in Florence, we have Milano Moda Uomo. And we can always count on Domenico Dolce and Steffano Gabbana to mine the rich cultural, social, topographical, religious, and visual culture of Italy, and in particular, their homeland of Sicily.

For this collection of 80 looks (D & G have always been prolific), a sense of the sea and shore and prints with Sicilian citrus and antique postcards waft through woven jackets and eyelet lace pants and shirts ... it is called "Sicilian Vacation" after all. And although the collection starts off with plenty of looks in black (very Catholic of them), it blossoms into something from the heyday of Italian cinema, between the 1950s to the 1970s. There's a bit of "La Dolce Vita" (look at the cuts of some of the trousers and suiting) and a bit of 1970s mod prints. There are plenty of jackets, shirts, and pants encrusted with beads and jewels. The addition of easy-breezy beachwear makes it a holiday. Tutto fantastico!

And take a look at the incredible, over-the-top beaded and encrusted shoes, looking like altar pieces from a Baroque church. Some feature the coral motif seen on garments! Click on the photos below for a jaw-dropping close-up!

https://www.dolcegabbana.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Paris Fashion Week showcasing collections for the '25'-26 Fall and Winter season wrapped and here are a few details that caught my attention:

Gloriously wide trousers at Dior Homme.

Chitose Abe's brand Sacai showed a collection that was inspired by children's author Maurice Sendak's classic book "Where The Wild Things Are." There were only a few pieces that spoke directly (an image of one of the Wild Things) or even indirectly (jackets with wooly fur like a Wild Thing) to Sendak's work...the rest was a collaboration with Ugg and Carhartt. Maurice was a friend of mine and I think he would have found this collection very...um...amusing (with a hairy eyebrow).

Fursac creative director Gauthier Borsarello looked back to a Paris of the 70s and 80s and came up with a small detail that made my heart sing: buttons, the kind that featured rock bands or pithy sayings from the 80s adorning sweaters like epaulets, and peeking out from lapels. I still have my huge collection of such buttons from the 80s (Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Nina Hagen, "Rude Boy," BowWowWow, David Bowie, Prince, Laurie Anderson, etc.) and they make an appearance on a denim jacket every now and then.

Feng Chen Wang showed some pretty cool 3D printed shoes in the shape of a traditional Chinese dragon.

And kudos to Bluemarble for using mature models.

https://www.dior.com/

https://www.sacai.jp/
https://fr.fursac.com/
https://fengchenwang.com/
https://bluemarbleparis.com/

New Nike A.I.R. Footwear

When Nike introduced their now-controversial 2024 Olympics outfits for the Track and Field division several weeks ago, they also debuted a new line of conceptual footwear developed using man-made sketches, computational and parametric design, generative AI, rapid prototyping, and 3D printers. While some look like modified versions of a regular Nike shoe, others seem to be from the far future or even an alternate dimension. And I think they are amazing.

https://www.nike.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Milano Moda Uomo

Milano Moda Uomo closed yesterday, and there were some pleasant Fall-Winter '24-'25 collections. Here are a few little details from collections I did not write about but I just couldn't let pass by...

Fendi did not have a theme and Silvia Venturini Fendi proclaimed no need for one--"A collection is a collection, period," she said emphatically--but one can see a certain English rural landscape dressing emerge. Among the protective outerwear were some great skirts.

Over at the Fondazione Prada, it was the set that caught my attention. The collection for FW '24-'25 from Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons apparently was a comment about how the business world creates an atmosphere that is prison-like and keeps people away from the natural world (well...yeah). Models first walked through a maze of spartan cubicles to emerge into the runway area which was created to float three feet over an actual meandering stream and grasses, on glass plates. Audience members watched from uncomfortable office chairs while mist hung in the air. What a feat of engineering to create a complete interior meadow encased in glass.

And finally, Dhruv Kapoor created a pretty cool chunky, lug soled shoe that was both a lace-up and a belted buckle!

https://www.fendi.com/
https://www.prada.com/
https://dhruvkapoor.com/

Classical AI Shoes

Ofri Cohen of Spotlight Time is very clever...she used the AI program Midjourney to create a marvelous collection of shoes that utilize a classical-Renaissance motif. The chunky soles or shafts of boots look like friezes of ancient Greek or Roman architecture. I would love a pair of the boots...any pair will do. I hope someone actually makes these soon (they could easily be 3D printed)!

https://www.instagram.com/spotlighttime/