3 major takeaways from an extravagant, maximalist Milan Fashion Week

0:04Jill Manoff: Hello and welcome back to the Glossy Podcast. I'm your host, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi, and we have a full house today. I'm here with both our international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska and our editor-in-chief Jill Manoff. Hello, guys.

0:18Danny Parisi: Hi. Happy to be here.

0:20Jill Manoff: Thank you both for being here. This is a fun one. We've been covering Fashion Month. We did New York Fashion Week discussion with me and Jill. We did London Fashion Week discussion with me and Zofia. And now all three of us are here to discuss Milan Fashion Week, which wrapped up on Monday. And then next week, we will finish it off with a Paris Fashion Week discussion. Milan Fashion Week had a lot to unpack, so we decided to split it up a little bit. And we each came to this recording with one big theme that we saw in Milan that we want to talk about. We do not know what each other's themes are.

0:50Jill Manoff: So it will be a surprise to each of us. I figure we go through each one, each per each reporter can say kind of what they saw and what they thought about it. And we'll bounce off each other and go from there. But we worked out an order ahead of time. So there was no confusion. Jill, would you like to share your theme from Milan Fashion Week?

1:09Danny Parisi: The pressure of going first. It's kind of I did this intentionally.

1:13Jill Manoff: So I was like,

1:15Danny Parisi: what if they took mine and I'd have nothing to say? I'd just be sitting here. But no,

1:19Jill Manoff: I didn't think about that.

1:21Danny Parisi: But I'm calling my theme the Mathieu Blasie effect. And I would just say this has many components. But honestly, it's that kind of look that is piled on more is more. You think of the tweed with the sweeping skirt. And there was a lot of that. And I think that the star of these shows in Milan were the stylists because, you know, the clothes were one thing, but there was a lot of talk about how they were paired and how they were put together. That was what was the interesting thing. A lot of words were like imperfect or rumpled or in place yet slightly askew. and in terms of the more is more effect, like at Dolce & Gabbana, there was like one critic called it like a maximalist pile on.

2:17Danny Parisi: And there was a lot of that in terms of the styling. It's often with accessories. I think this season more so it was with the clothing. You saw it at Jill Sander, where a stylist who often works with W and some other publications, another critic said, you know, the stylist has a gift for unexpected color pairings. It gave the collections minimalism, a welcome jolt. So it was really about how it was pieced together. Somebody referenced the fact that, you know, more clothes on one body gives you the opportunity to show off more pieces at a time when that's so important, when you have maybe 60 looks and you want to show more than that.

2:59Danny Parisi: but also it was kind of an opportunity to I don't know spark joy show joy it felt very joyful but it was about the color pairings the mixing of prints kind of how things were pieced together I'll start I'll stop there and I have more to say but yes would you all agree well I I completely agree and

3:21Jill Manoff: this is good because my theme which I will get to later is similar but it's not direct overlap but I totally agree that there was definitely a lot of maximalism, a lot of like prints jumbled together and patterns and materials jumbled together. The Prada show in particular, I thought had a lot of that where it was like one dress, but like stratified where like the top part was one material and then the second was like polka dot below that. And then the bottom was like something else entirely. Yeah. I'm wondering, I'm thinking back on London and New York though, And I don't recall seeing, I feel like in New York, I saw more like monochrome, like colorful, but like one color as opposed to like a bunch of crazy colors.

4:01Jill Manoff: Do you think it's just a Milan thing or did you see that at the other weeks?

4:06Danny Parisi: I think in general, it's kind of a rejection of like minimalism as we know it. Like maybe there were solid colors. Maybe they were, it was a single color as opposed to all of this like blocking and chaos. but I think that obviously brands need to be inspiring right now you need to inspire that sale whereas you know with quiet luxury it's kind of if you know you know and you know you may know and you can't afford it then what and you're going to go to Uniqlo where you can basically get the same the same look and that doesn't do anything for the brands outside of the one percent so I I think like inspiring a purchase, that's what it was all about and getting the viewer excited.

4:52Danny Parisi: But I think we've seen it. We did see it in New York to some extent. I think the styling was better done in Milan.

4:59Zofia Zwieglinska: What do you think? I will say that Tory Burch was definitely an example for me of like the kind of maximalism and mixing of prints. And I think it was very effective with her collection. Definitely one of the standouts for New York as well. wondering if she's taking a few leaves out of the the melanese playbook for that yes and and some

5:18Danny Parisi: i said it wasn't always done with like um accessories which is more common but then you look at like the lauro piano collection and it was all all the interest was added via hats which is interesting because otherwise it was pretty plain jane and um you know and you think about it maybe they're leaning into that maybe these they're making these hats like you think about their ball cap, which is succession. And maybe that was a hot seller. And they're kind of trying to lean into that. But it did just seem like it was a random accessory to bring something new to the mix, which is funny. But at least it wasn't just the plain Jane.

5:57Jill Manoff: Yeah, it's funny, though, because I feel like Laura Piano was the poster child for quiet luxury minimalism. So it's interesting. I also noticed that they had a lot of hats, a lot of interesting hats in general, which I'm teasing it, but also kind of related to my, my theme, which we'll get to, um, a lot of cool accessories. Did you feel like there was any one particular show that really nailed it for you or like, was the best embodiment of that?

6:24Danny Parisi: I think, uh, well, Dolce & Gabbana was one and there, there are a lot of references to like the oddball layering. Um, I think that the new Marnie, um, collection, which showed, uh, I think it was referenced in GQ. And basically it was, um, the pieces were not, I guess some of them were unique in themselves, but you saw like a utility vest paired with a sleeveless button down with a tie, which, um, I don't know for, for men. And that was something that I maybe, you maybe haven't seen before. Um, I did put the Jill Sanders show, um, in terms of the unexpected color pairings. Um, Um, but the kind of rumpled, askew, imperfect, those references, I saw it, I read it.

7:10Danny Parisi: It was pretty common across, I don't want to say most shows, but a common theme throughout.

7:20Jill Manoff: Yeah, for sure. I'm trying to think of other kind of larger implications of that style. I mean, I think it's a little bit harder to one-to-one replicate with like fast fashion, like you said. But also, I feel like for New York, we talked a little bit about people mixing in old and new and stuff from vintage paired with newer things. And I feel like that also lends itself well to kind of layering and adding stuff on more as more pairing this new thing on top of three older shirts that I already had and mixing them all in some fun, interesting way.

7:54Danny Parisi: Yeah. And I made a social video about it during New York. And it was this kind of, I guess, build on the concept of like a rejection of micro trends, but at the same time kind of facilitating them. Cause it's like, there's almost something for anyone, everyone, an opportunity to showcase your personal style in terms of the way that you style it. And it's kind of feels like a playground. It's like anything goes. Um, and you could piece together looks to get a specific look, or you could just do your thing and that's okay too. It's just kind of like, have fun, mix match go wild get rumpled have a wrinkled dress okie doke yeah can i can i say my theme

8:38Jill Manoff: because i feel like it's we're we're starting to inch into it very similar but specifically i my theme is maximalist footwear i feel like there were so many interesting shoes and i feel like the last couple years maybe from like the quiet luxury era there was a lot of like subdued footwear like more flats instead of heels and more like sleek sneakers instead of the big chunky ones. And I feel like this Milan Fashion Week had brought back all the like crazy footwear in a good way. There were some shows that had more subdued ones like Prada had some kind of sleek but simple like black shoes. And most of the interest was in the cutouts, like the way that they were kind of like shaped around the foot.

9:19Jill Manoff: But lots of crazy stuff like Dolce & Gabbana had these huge like shoes encrusted with jewels or with flowers. Margiela and Javallanes had this very cool collaboration that was, did you see the six layer rainbow flip flop?

9:34Zofia Zwieglinska: I did.

9:36Jill Manoff: Yeah. And then they had another one that was like a flip flop, but the sole was like a foot and it, but it had a sixth toe. I don't know. There was just all sorts of interesting like experimental footwear. I don't know. Did you guys feel like you noticed that in some of the shows?

9:51Zofia Zwieglinska: Yeah, definitely.

9:53Danny Parisi: Yeah, the only one that I that really I noticed all of the ones you mentioned and one that also stuck out to me was the Bottega. Is it the Bottega show with the kind of fishnet flat? It kind of was floppy and wrapped around.

10:08Jill Manoff: I think Kendall Jenner and then like tied off at the ankle. I actually really liked that one.

10:13Danny Parisi: Yeah, I felt like I could see like the cool girls wearing that with their the row pieces. Like I just feel like it was like it felt like it was a comfortable look, but also kind of distinct without being logo and logoed and all of that.

10:28Jill Manoff: Yeah, the fishnet sandal at Bottega was one of my favorites. Also, Fendi had a kind of mesh shoe where it had a flat sole, but then the top was just fully like transparent, like netting kind of with the foot completely visible. Yeah, a lot of interesting experimental stuff. Marnie and Diesel both had shoes with like huge chunky buckles I saw. Yeah, I have one more example, but I'll pause there. Zofia, did you notice anything about the footwear?

10:58Zofia Zwieglinska: yeah I mean I think that it's it's weird because obviously I've just kind of come back from a holiday in Cornwall and everyone's wearing like windsurfing shoes which are basically like rubber soles and then neoprene at the top and it seems very very similar to what a lot of designers are putting out on the runway where you've basically just got flat rubber soled shoes with some kind of a technical tie around the ankle and then either neoprene or mesh or something else they look very comfortable i i'm definitely for it and to be honest i've been tracking some of those kind of styles myself for the last couple of seasons as well so it's just good to know that

11:35Jill Manoff: i was on to something yeah and it's it's cool to see them all in one week like this again i feel like i didn't notice it quite as much at london or new york but there was so much interesting footwear one other example i want to mention is that anitsuka tiger had a show and um i think they are definitely they have like bold colors often but i do think they are part of that wave of like sleeker and more like kind of um streamlined sneakers um but they had a they showed off like kitten heels and stilettos that were like metallic material but with the anetsuka like kind of pattern on the side all sorts of interesting stuff very much in line with that like sneakers or like snow fur or sneaker ballerina flat trend of like combining sneaker style with other shoe silhouettes and everything.

12:25Jill Manoff: I thought that one was very cool too.

12:28Zofia Zwieglinska: I think they've just opened a Milan store as well, like just in time with the runway show. So it might be one of the reasons why they're showing up there because I don't think they do a show usually with Milan Fashion Week.

12:39Jill Manoff: I don't think so. Yeah, that was cool to see them there. What were you going to say, Jo?

12:43Danny Parisi: I was just going to say, obviously that brand is known for their sneakers did you see sneakers elsewhere like what's the status check on on the state of sneakers

12:53Jill Manoff: I I can't think of any but I I wasn't there in person I don't want to say they weren't there like that was just the one I yeah I feel like a lot of the interesting footwear I saw were pumps and stilettos and sandals and other things and on a suka and even them the thing I thought it was interesting were their heels and stilettos so I didn't see as many sneakers uh i don't want to definitively say there were less but i feel like i didn't notice them i know

13:20Danny Parisi: i feel like it wasn't looking good for sneakers and then there's there are the brands like uh gucci where it was just like glam to the max and it is stilettos with your fur with your kind of i think they've got the the snob kind of persona like that kind of a girl um so yeah that's interesting i mean return of heels i like that yeah one more thing the um the seven or the six

13:43Jill Manoff: layer rainbow flip-flop from margela that we were talking about is actually a runway exclusive and it's not going to be sold um which the one with the extra toe is being sold so they are still selling some of the weird stuff but i thought that was interesting because that they weren't selling that one because it's like we're getting the fun of like putting something really experimental on the runway but maybe not as confident that people will actually buy it i don't know like maybe it's still testing the waters of are people going to actually go for something really wacky on

14:12Danny Parisi: the foot uh i don't know get that concept like if you're gonna go at it like make 150 and sell them for a high price point it's a collector's item like just to not do it at all is so random

14:23Zofia Zwieglinska: yeah i i agree yeah and i think we'll see a lot of people just gluing like multiple pairs of harvinas together just to kind of see what that looks like i hope no one trips because they did

14:34Jill Manoff: look very high yeah yeah i mean that's the other thing is like how practical are some of these shoes flip-flops are already not like super stable so to have six of them stacked on top of each other um but yeah we you already mentioned this jill but i was going to add as an addendum that mostly i'm focused on the footwear but hats and other accessories felt like there was a lot of fun and experimentation and i'm wondering what you guys think is that just like it's a little bit easier to do something more out there with an accessory because it's easier to like take off and have it not be the foot like you can wear a silly hat and then maybe take it off if you're feeling stupid and put it in your bag.

15:11Jill Manoff: I don't know. Why do you think there was more fun there?

15:15Danny Parisi: To me, it was just added interest in terms of like the more is more look on the runway. And it reminded me, this was not a hat, but I was like, in terms of the things that I was going to mention, like at the Bottega show, where I was thinking like some of the striking looks, like it wasn't because of a specific piece, but it was because I wouldn't have thought to put it, to wear that together, like wear a big bag with a lot of fringe. And then you're also wearing a big skirt or a scarf wrapped around with also with fringe. And it just made for movement and really like a fabulous striking look.

15:48Danny Parisi: I don't know. I, I think it was all about the styling. I do wonder if those will be for sale, but also an entry point potentially, if it's a, a ball cap to the, to the brand, I would think of it in the same vein as like socks, Gucci socks. Like maybe you buy a ball cap that's a couple hundred dollars and that's not the same as buying into a handbag.

16:12Jill Manoff: Yeah, I definitely think price is part of it for sure.

16:16Zofia Zwieglinska: Yeah, and silhouette. Obviously, a lot of these looks are very striking once you add a hat and I think they become a little bit more muted once you take it off. So maybe it's also playing to more maximalist clients as well.

16:27Jill Manoff: Yeah. Okay, cool. Let's hear our last theme from Zofia.

16:34Zofia Zwieglinska: Yes, I mean, my one's a little bit different because it's more about the presentation format, I guess, rather than the looks themselves. But I think a big theme for Milan this season was that the customer kind of became part of the show. And I think that there was multiple runaways from, you know, Gucci to Machino and Prada that kind of did that. I think Gucci in particular was very explicit. They had a whole kind of fake store set up as part of the kind of Milan fashion show runway. It even had like fake windows where you could see people walking past. I thought that was a very interesting concept and obviously very interesting considering all of our past conversations around, you know, is luxury really sellable?

17:18Zofia Zwieglinska: What are we thinking in terms of, you know, Gucci and its future under Luca De Mayo and all of those kind of little business tidbits that we've been talking about? I think he was trying to accommodate a lot of different recognizable Gucci customers in that brand. So again, customer becoming part of the show, rather than maybe asking someone to adopt just like one single silhouette. I think that plays quite well to your theme, Jill, like maximalism and different characters during a show almost allows, you know, different people to choose what they like from certain collections. Do you agree?

17:53Danny Parisi: Absolutely. It's a good call. I noticed the Moschino one and I'll let you talk about it. But I thought it was so humorous that a lot of the commentators said that the people in their common clothes were more inspiring than what was on the runway themselves. But yeah, go ahead.

18:11Zofia Zwieglinska: I'll go into that format a little bit more just in case someone hasn't had a chance to watch the video. But Moschino's new designer Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina put their clothes among hundreds of extras walking in the opposite direction in ordinary clothes so you had the runway looks coming out from one side and people would just kind of hurry and go along from the other and it provided this kind of immediate test of how the collection might look outside which I think is also really interesting because typically we only see it in this very like stylized environment and the designers themselves said they wanted the clothes to belong to real people so again wearability commerciality like all of those themes that we've already talked about New York and London are still kind of very very present with Milan as well.

18:57Zofia Zwieglinska: And I think finally, the last one, and we've touched on it already, is Prada. They've kind of approached the customer through the product. I've been talking a lot about the kind of devotion to skirts by Michia. She's done like wraps secured with crystal decorated Velcro this season. There was painted skirts. There was like translucent skirts. So again, giving the customer a really familiar starting point. It's something that Prada is really well known for. and then plenty of room for individual styling. So exactly what you said, Jill, just kind of letting people choose what they want. And again, yeah, commercial appeal is really easy to understand.

19:34Zofia Zwieglinska: What did you like most about the Prada show, Danny?

19:40Jill Manoff: You know, I feel like I was more interested in the clothing than itself. You know, I wasn't as aware of all the like formats, but it is interesting hearing about it because I feel like in the New York episode, So, Joe, we talked a lot about immersion and like immersiveness and giving the attendees like just a little something extra. And I feel like all three of our themes are kind of touching on that. Like more is more. Give them more options and more, I don't know, things to choose from.

20:08Danny Parisi: Yes. And if you see real people, you can maybe see yourself in the look and understand where you might fit in. I so agree. The Prada skirt moment in Milan was so interesting with the exhibition and all of that. Definitely a way to, I guess, reiterate the brand story or spotlight it in a big way. And how many skirts were on the runway? Like 60, 80? There was a lot.

20:34Jill Manoff: I think so, yeah.

20:35Zofia Zwieglinska: It was a lot of skirts. And it's actually funny because a lot of brands would pay a lot to have such an organic brand moment around that. But I actually saw a lot of people either before or after the show, like going back to their own closets and pulling out their Prada skirts and wearing them almost as like a tribute. Like that typically as an activation would cost, you know, hundreds and hundreds of dollars. That in itself, I think, was very fun and kind of what makes Milan a little bit more unique. Like there's such a devotion to certain designers.

21:05Danny Parisi: Those pieces are so special. I feel like they are a collector's item. And like you said, those pulling out their Prada skirt, you know, it's not going to go out of style. It will always be Prada. And it's that pencil shape that's very classic. And it's got the little bit of interest where maybe it's recognizably Prada or just otherwise special. That's great. And on that note, like we're speaking to nostalgia. I know that there was talk that maybe Roberto Cavalli went too far into nostalgia. it. I just read like a collection from the early 2000s. But that's something else where you can just say, you can wear this, it'll probably be wearable for decades to come.

21:47Danny Parisi: Now's the time. So again, speaking to consumers and their willingness to spend.

21:54Zofia Zwieglinska: I think that's a great point. I do think that like, especially with Milan, it does feel like there's these kind of rehashed codes or kind of brand identities that keep coming up like with with the new Gucci there was a lot of references to like Tom Ford Gucci and like that's obviously like such a big reference point both for designers but but also for for customers I'm wondering if it is a little bit too overdone now like how many times can you reference Tom Ford Gucci and you know Roberto Cavalli from the early days before it does feel a little bit tired but yeah I do think Milan's still interesting and there's a lot of talk still around the quality that comes out of the place as well.

22:33Zofia Zwieglinska: So I think that's still worth noting. Agree.

22:37Jill Manoff: Okay, well, I think we settled on some very good themes. There was, I think there was just the right amount of overlap where there's like common threads, but we all kind of touched on different things. Yeah, this was a very fun Milan Fashion Week. Like you said, Joe, I feel like the styling really brought it together. A lot of very memorable shows and collections. And we have one more Fashion Week to cover next week. We will be talking Paris Fashion Week. but this has been fun. I always like doing fashion month with you guys.

23:04Danny Parisi: Excited to talk about YSL next week. Oh my God, it was so good. But yes, we'll leave it there.

23:10Jill Manoff: And it's a long one. I think Paris Fashion Week wraps up on October 6th, I believe. So when we, we will be recording this, our next episode right as it's ending. Great. Well, thank you all for being here

23:22Zofia Zwieglinska: and thank you for listening. Bye.

23:29Jill Manoff: And thank you for listening to the Glossy Podcast. Don't forget to give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, wherever you listen to this, because that helps us out so much. And don't forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast to hear interviews with industry insiders, and we can review segments where we break down the news. The new episodes come out every Friday. Until the next time, thanks for listening.