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/

"Techtopia" by BOSS

Presented last week at Milan's Allianz MiCo conference center, the BOSS FW '-23-'24 show was a jaw-dropping spectacle of set design. Sophia the Robot, created by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, greeted audience members as they arrived at the reception area of what BOSS calls their Techtopia, "a vision of the workplace of tomorrow, where game-changing technologies are combined with lush green spaces." Audience members sat at desks with Sophia while the models navigated the layout of the space. Maybe I have simply seen too many sci-fi films but this seemed much more DYS-topian than U-topian. There is something eerie about the five pods scattered around the presentation space that housed a man doing yoga, the BOSS synth-lab for manufacturing fragrances, a VR pod of people reclining in chairs engaged in an unseen digital reality, and two meeting rooms filled with floating plants on a conference table. The bright, clinical lighting is harsh and unrelenting. The entire scene is absolutely worthy of a sci-fi film (it feels a bit like "THX1138") and carries an undercurrent of dread... but the clothes are lovely! While not of the experimental nature of some of my favorite designers, current head of BOSS Marco Falcioni created a collection that Vogue journalist Luke Leitch called "an almost anthropological and at times surreal excavation of the tradition of 'executive dress' at a social moment where Lazy Girl Jobs are trending and 'Working Girl' [the 1988 film] feels like a historical document." Please do take a moment to watch the show below, and marvel at the stage design on the show.

https://www.hugoboss.com/

BEAUTY: Installation--Es Devlin

Extraordinary artist and stage designer Es Devlin (she and her team designed the incredible stage for U2's Experience + Innocence tours) recently exhibited Memory Palace, a large scale, mind boggling gallery installation at the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in London.

MEMORY PALACE
ES DEVLIN, 2019

CNC CUT BAMBOO, MIRROR, EARTHBORN CLAYPAINT, 3D PRINTED SLA
17500 X 6500 X 3900MM

MEMORY PALACE IS A NEW SCULPTURE WHICH FILLS THE GALLERY SPACE WITH A VAST CHRONOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE MAPPING PIVOTAL SHIFTS IN HUMAN PERSPECTIVE OVER SEVENTY-FIVE MILLENNIA.

FROM THE CAVES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA WHERE HOMO SAPIENS FIRST LEFT THEIR MARK, TO THE STEPS OF THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT WHERE GRETA THUNBERG BEGAN HER CLIMATE STRIKE, THE LOCATIONS AND MOMENTS REPRESENT A PERSONAL AND SUBJECTIVE CARTOGRAPHY AND HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY ES TO INVOKE OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORIES/HISTORY, AND ALSO TO PROVOKE DIALOGUE AND DEBATE.

IT IS NAMED AFTER THE CLASSICAL MNEMONIC TECHNIQUE, ORIGINATING IN ANCIENT GREECE, WHICH CATALOGUES MEMORIES WITHIN FAMILIAR LOCATIONS. ES IDENTIFIES THE ROOMS IN WHICH SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS IN HUMAN THINKING TOOK PLACE AND PLOTS THEM WITHIN IDENTIFIABLE FRAGMENTS OF CITIES AND BUILDINGS TO CREATE A PERSONAL ATLAS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THOUGHT.

CONSTRUCTION: DIAGON
LEAD ASSOCIATE DESIGNER: RUBY WAI YUE LAW

PHOTO CREDIT: PETER MALLET

https://esdevlin.com/
https://www.pitzhanger.org.uk/