Milan Fashion Week is in full swing, as editors and influencers flock from London to Italy’s fashion capital.
On Wednesday, Milan took the autumn/winter 2022 runway baton, with designer Kim Jones drawing inspiration from Fendi archives for new designs at the Italian luxury label’s Fashion Week show.
And who better to kick the show off than Gen-Z’s favourite supermodel, Bella Hadid? Hadid opened the show with a look that was part babydoll, part sexy librarian, walking beneath a canopy of faux concrete arches at the brand’s Via Solari headquarters. The sultry, seductive tone was established by the textural costume, which included a wispy chiffon slip dress accented with small frills and a short pink mohair chubby drifting off one shoulder. Hers was the first of several delicate chiffon designs in the season, which included see-through tops, trousers, and jumpsuits embellished with wavy frills or patterns and peeping out of tweed ensembles. Jones’ colour palette of mint, red and tawny shades also instantly felt more adventurours than his first efforts for the Roman house, which were dominated by white and camel.
After seeing jewellery designer Delfina Delettrez wearing her mother’s vintage Memphis-print shirt to the office, the British designer finally got complete access to the archives and two Karl Lagerfeld collections, and he delved into them. Unsurprisingly, it was a Memphis-inspired collection from 1986 and a chiffon-centric one from 2000 that then became the jumping off points for Jones. “The best place to explore the Fendi archives is through the Fendi wardrobes,” Jones said in shownotes. “And these are collections which, although they come from the past, feel very now.”
As well as the chiffon looks, the tailoring was superb, with seaming or cutaway fronts emphasising the waist and the jacket lapel buttoned up to the throat, lending a mysterious air to the ensemble. Many featured graphic tweeds, as well as tall boots, pencil skirts, and Peekaboo bags, for a fresh take on monochromatic dressing. Corset tops with a half apron looked perfect over matching shirts. Belts were also pocketed to carry phones, with Jones noting that the collection is “a wardrobe designed for every aspect of a woman’s life, for every generation.”