Vogue Editors Share Highlights From Milan Fashion Week

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1:23This is The Run Through. I'm Nicole Phelps, and I am joined here by my friend and colleague, Luke Leach. Ciao, Luke.

1:31Luke Leitch:Ciao, Nicole. We are speaking Italian because we just spent the week in gorgeous, sunny Milan, and we've arrived to a little bit of rain in Paris, which hopefully will pass quickly. We are going to talk about everything we saw in the Italian fashion capital. Absolutely. And before we reconfigure our minds to speaking French or speaking bad French, in my case, it's nice to take this moment to look back at the really intense week we've just had, right? It was nonstop. It started with a bang. The first day was Tuesday. And of course, Tuesday ended with Vogue World, but it began with a couple of big moments.

2:16We had an all skirts collection from Prada, which we'll dig into shortly. and Goodbye from Glenn Martins, which really was a bang.

2:25Luke Leitch:You know, a lot of fashion, however much we gild it and we intellectualize it, both menswear and womenswear and everything wear, at the end of the day, a lot of it is about display and sex and sexual attraction. And, you know, since he started six years ago at Diesel, Glenn Martins has always been very inclusive, very sex positive, very much about acknowledging Diesel as a denim brand, not as a traditional fashion brand, and one with a much larger audience, and trying to speak to what he has detected, the sort of generational direction that he saw in people in their teens and 20s. And I think that really culminated with the bang that we saw on Tuesday morning.

3:13Luke Leitch:It was a great show. It was tinged with sadness because he's done such a good job there, but he's going on to be able to devote himself to Maison Margiela. Full time. Yeah. So it was kind of one for the road, right? Yes. And so we're speaking in innuendos, but I remember sort of halfway through nudging you and I said, wow, that couple across the way, they're really making out. I know. I felt I was focused on my staring fixedly at the clothes and typing. Until I nudged you. Until you nudge me. I really felt my age. I felt like a slightly disapproving old dowager going, oh my gosh, that's really inappropriate.

3:53Luke Leitch:The hands are all over each other. And then as I looked around, I was like, oh, okay, fine. Glenn had mentioned to me backstage just before that there was a surprise and we agreed that it was better to let surprises be surprising. And it was just the latest example, but a great example in the way that he is also very dynamic in his conception of the fashion show, form of fashion display that is close to our heart's, very close to Broke Runway's heart, but that is often pursued in a very similar way again and again, and is really can be subject to great experimentation in theatre. The risk with a show like that is that you don't focus on the clothes.

4:33Luke Leitch:And I think it was a beautiful summation of everything, you know, all of his material experiments, his very metaphorical tearing away of the clothes from the body, his treatment of fabrics that in the traditional hierarchies of material might not be seen as so precious, but his treatment of them with great reverence and abandon, right? So he's making beautiful classic music with instruments that seem basic, and it's not necessarily classical, it's quite punk. But I think he's done a great job, and it's also really been really good for him as a bridge between Y Project and Margiela. I think it's, you know, in all of the, and even his collaborations with people like H &M, you can see everything he does, he takes a little bit and it adds to the sum of his experience.

5:16Luke Leitch:And I'm personally looking forward to see what he does now with full focus at Margiela. But at the same time, I'm very happy to have witnessed the Glenn period at Diesel. Likewise. Let's talk about Prada, which as I just mentioned, was entirely devoted to skirts. That's interesting because, of course, Mucha Prada is a devotee of the skirt. I've never, and I don't think you probably either, have ever seen her in anything but a skirt or a dress. And one time, way back 20 or so years ago, she told Ingrid Sishi, the late Ingrid Sishi, on the Charlie Rose show, that the skirt for her is like a t-shirt.

5:56and I think she meant the way that t-shirts have become a way for everybody to express their feelings or their tribe or maybe some sort of political slogan. She sort of puts all of her personality in the skirt or she thinks that it's a good canvas for doing that.

6:16Luke Leitch:It's the ideal canvas for where she comes from because, you know, she's so interesting as a character. She's from this very established family that created Prada, the brand from the 1910s. And then of course, she famously as a student was quite political and left wing. So she's always been, her personality and again, her makeup and her history have always been a kind of competitive yin and yang swing between this kind of classical Milanese lady. The mid skirt is such a Milanese piece, but then she takes it as a template and and she plays with it in a in a very free and sometimes radical way and this season i think it was very interesting that there was this kind of metaphor for her approach which was the use of velcro everywhere so she could just really you know you could deconstruct it you could stick things on stick things off it was like a sort of meccano skirts and there were beautiful prints there were reissues i think though i'm not such a skirt prod a skirt pro but it was great and and let's not overlook this sort of extraordinary pieces that came with the skirts.

7:22These barely there bras, which were very barely there.

7:26Luke Leitch:They looked like sort of recuperation garments for soccer players who'd strained their shoulders. With little butt bags or fanny packs hanging off of them, those little like coin purses hanging off the arm strap. They were definitely a strong gesture. And I think they were there as kind of styling points against the skirts and actually to help make the skirts the main screen that we were all watching. And I would say it's probably no coincidence that in the new Prada Galleria store and the Prada Sphere exhibition that I went into preview the week before, there is a fabulous display of skirts from the history of Prada, which are resolving like marionettes on their own in the space.

8:06Luke Leitch:And we see back to the very first, I think it was 88, the very first Prada show, some of the pieces that were there. So I think there was also almost using the skirt as a page on which to express elements of Prada's history. But it didn't feel like a historical show. It felt like you could imagine a lot of people wanting to go out and get those skirts. Well, speaking of Prada history, that was one of my favorite elements of the mega Vogue World show at the Galleria, which was the fifth Vogue World show, but really dove into the archives of so many of, you know, Italy's most illustrious brands.

8:46And it was quite fun to see the ugly chic, the very iconic ugly chic skirt from Prada. I think it was like a 1996 collection and such famous, famous Versace pieces. Maximilian Davis from Ferragamo ran up to us after the show and talked about how exciting it was for him to see the old Romeo Gili robe coats with the embroidery on the lapels. And for fashion insiders, fashion lovers, I think there was a lot to look at and enjoy in that show, don't you think?

9:21Luke Leitch:In terms of Vogue World and seeing the vintage pieces, I found it a very interesting idea to see pieces that we all know about. We might have seen in museums, we might have read articles from people who were there, and nostalgic kind of swoonings from people who said this was defining to my time. But again, to see those pieces in a contemporary runway context is to see how they really connect with an audience and connects with your eye when they're moving. So let's just jump ahead briefly because, of course, there was an Emporio Armani show on the schedule. Not a show, but a presentation. And it was the last collection of…

10:03Luke Leitch:Leo Del Orco and Silvana Armani. Leo has been at Mr. Armani's side for many, many years. And Silvana is his niece and has also been women's design director for many, many years. And following Mr. Armani's death, they were the succession planned by Mr. Armani. But of course, as we started hearing rumored in around the time of menswear, and as manifested just about 10 days ago. Dario Vitale, the man who's at the center of sort of all of the energy, I would say, of excitement in terms of designer speculation and people being excited about his energy. But he's already in place as the head of accessories and the creative director of Emporio.

10:49Luke Leitch:But the general thing about the presentation was that it was Silvana and Leo's last show. And they didn't have a show. They had a presentation. The first mannequins were two white suits, which represented them. And I thought it was very interesting because it said, oh, it's about time. And you thought, oh, this is going to be quite sad. But actually, it was about accrual, the way that things are added with time, the way that layers are added. So there was acid washing that made things look marvellised in a very beautiful way. There was the addition and encrustation of salt crystals on garments and bags, which is not something I'd want to wear to, you know, on the Metro in the morning.

11:28Luke Leitch:And certainly not in this Parisian rain, because I'd be like leaving a slate. Melting. But it was very beautiful. And it was a very cool way to end what is effectively an interregnum moment. I think it would be a mistake to put too much pressure of hype onto Dario Vitale's debut next season. Nonetheless, people will put plenty of hype on it. Nonetheless, people will, which is why I want to be that voice of reason. but I think you have to give people a couple of seasons. We know what he's done to an extent at Miu Miu, but that wasn't his full own articulation. We saw one collection of Versace and people went de lulu, but it was just one collection, guys.

12:06Luke Leitch:So I would say just hold your horses and don't heap him. Well, speaking of growing nicely into roles, Simone Bellotti really has people's attention at Jill Sander. And it's interesting because what he does there is so incredibly subtle. Yes, it is incredibly subtle. And I think that there's an established order and audience of, what would you call them, Sandoristas and Sandoristos. And Sanders had, I mean, not least with Ralph Simmons, it's had many iterations over the years. But I think that he's playing with the fundamental kind of severe minimalism that was also very feminicentric of Sander, not entirely unrelated to Prada suiting back in the day, in a very interesting way.

12:51Luke Leitch:I think it's an aficionado show. I think if you don't know much about Sander and you look at that show, you would be like, why all the fireworks about this? So it requires a bit of captioning, a bit of backstoryism to understand, I would say, the elan and the intelligence with which she's dealing with the heritage of the house. But I personally, I love Sander, but I was happy to see the yellow dress with the swooping draping and a couple of the more expressive pieces because, you know, maybe I'm a bit simple, but I enjoyed the eye candy. Fendi was Maria Grazia Churi's second ready-to-wear collection for the brand.

13:30And she didn't make it very easy for us to see the collection, did she?

13:35Luke Leitch:I mean, it was like a metaphor for fashion in general. How so? Explain. Well, you know, sometimes they make it very hard to see what they're doing. And you're like, okay, suit yourself. she explained it before the show there was a piece of contemporary art called i think it was mirror box so she put us in front of a version of this light box where we were staring at ourselves for me with this was alarming um and we could barely see the looks through the kind of you know diffuse reflection of the box and you could kind of make them out but i think that again you know going back to what we were saying about glenn martin's show i think it's always good when there's experimentation in a fashion show presentation that still speaks to the clothes.

14:21Luke Leitch:I think there was a big development from season one to season two. The rockiness of the cara elements and the quite nocturnal animal stuff was very strong. The bags were very strong. The shoes looked very sleek. I think, again, at the end of the day, Fendi made it a bit tough for themselves with the presentation, but I suspect the presentation was core to the result. Yeah, I like the bohemian spirit of the clothes, for sure. And the shame is that the kind of work that she is doing at Fendi is so beautiful. You know, the handwork, thinking back to the couture show in Rome in July, it's just very special.

15:04And, you know, you can appreciate that more, I suppose. Sans Lightbox.

15:11Luke Leitch:Ah, yes, but we're in an industry of smoke and mirrors, so I thought it was quite nice in a way. It was fun. We'll be back with our Milan fashion recap after the break.

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16:01Luke Leitch:Mr. President, my company formed me of the explosion on our re-ag on October 2nd. causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is... Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us out. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant. What would happen if I stopped doing it? You stalled, you freeze to death, that's what. With great power comes great deniability. I'm not the first daddy. Digger, see the trailer online. Only in the years October 2nd. Rated R, under 17 on a minute without parent. Fall has never looked or tasted this good.

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17:08Meryl Rogge showed us her second runway show for Marnie as well. So there were a bunch of sophomore collections this season. She's finding her groove there, I think.

17:21Luke Leitch:Yeah, I think so. You could see there were some strong motifs that ran across the collection, like the buckle with the opening underneath it at the chest of dresses, and also I think at the waistline of some pieces. This is niche and this is selfish, but I think the menswear is really coming on nicely. I'm really into the menswear. Some of the more technical pieces, especially, I was like, went into non-vogue journalist mode and more into like personal shopper dreamer mode. And I think money itself is a real challenge, right? Because I think that it needs to rediscover its community and its crowd.

17:52Luke Leitch:But I think that Meryl's brilliantly placed for that because I think she's a very sincere and intelligent designer. I think she's really, you know, speaking of finding her community, I think she's doing that. When you see the reaction from the audience, you can really feel, call them Gen Z, call them what you will, but, you know, young people coalescing around her. And I think something about her, the way she's sort of collaging references and whipping them all together in her own way, I think it really speaks to how people who are 30 or so are looking at the 90s or the early 2000s. And I mean, this is, you know, an obvious comparison, but, you know, the way when Tom Ford landed at Gucci in the mid-90s, he was looking at the 70s and it looked fresh and new to all of us people who were in our 20s and 30s then.

18:55I think something similar happens. And we, as people who have been around fashion for a lot longer, it works differently for us.

19:05Luke Leitch:I think we're conscious of the buttons that are being pressed because we've seen them being pressed in different contexts before. And the Tom Ford illusion is absolutely bang on. Her vision of femininity is very Marnie because it feels like the woman you're looking at is a woman who's in herself, who's not radiating. The male gaze. The male gaze. A terrible thing. Bless her. Bless her. We appreciate her for that. All right, Gucci was a very big moment for Demna. The February show that he did in Milan was, I guess, divisive, to put it mildly. He also, of course, he likes to tweak things. And the fact that we were in this simulacrum of a store was quite pointed, I think.

19:58Luke Leitch:It's very pointed. I mean, the one thing it slightly reminded me of was it was almost a Moschino move, right? So there was a very postmodern move. A fashion show normally in the eyes of the people that hold the show, especially if they're big commercial conglomerate labels, which Gucci is a prime example of. it's the part of a journey that they want to lead people to bringing the desire that the show sparks and then have that moment which for them is a monetizing moment when they hand over the cash. The fashion industry in general has had for years has been going gangbusters for various broader geopolitical socioeconomic reasons and for the last two years hasn't.

20:40Luke Leitch:And people have been laying a lot of pressure on people such as Demner who are in charge of these big craft, these big vessels that also represent a huge amount of shareholder interest and income. So people have been saying commercial, got to sell, got to sell. And I thought, you know, okay, I'm going to have the show in the store. And the store was so beautifully realized. It was one of my least favorite venues, which is the... The old Fiera made new again. Yeah, what a nightmare it is. Those shows in that of Fiera. But it's worth it when you go there and there's a show like this, not a white box or whatever.

21:14Luke Leitch:Because this was beautifully actualized. Apparently, it was also showcasing his real store concepts. But I love the fact that the street outside looked like the street outside in Rome. And we saw the passers-by passing the shop window and coming in. Yes, and how the weather changed. And it started a bright, sunny day. And then the rain came and the passersby were scurrying about with newspapers on their head. And then all of these different people came into the store, right? So it was a fabulous vehicle for saying, Gucci is not necessarily just for one person or just for one style. There's a whole universe of people that Demner was almost pre-anticipating in his imaginary and design world would come into the store.