Both Cathy Horyn and Suzy Menkes have concluded that this season’s Milan Fashion Week was the best it has been in years. Which maybe isn’t saying a whole lot, since it’s usually not that great: “It’s hard to remember a season here in the last decade when excellent collections were the norm and not the exception,” wrote Horyn in today’s Times. In fact, the critics were pretty fuzzy about remembering the last time Milan was good — Menkes vaguely described this season as “the strongest for a long period” — perhaps because they’re used to zoning out the blur of mirrored runways and loud patterns (which were still around this season, but far less frequent).
In addition to being quite beautiful, the shows were also really fun and glamorous, especially yesterday: There were movie stars like George Clooney and Megan Fox in the front row at Giorgio Armani, and Natalia Vodianova and Laeticia Casta walked in Roberto Cavalli’s 40th anniversary collection. All in all, Horyn concluded, “This has been a brilliant season for Italian fashion, a reminder that Milan can be a stronghold for new and exciting design and not a footnote to Paris.” Which starts tomorrow, by the way.
Armani’s Blue Period [NYT]
Milan Steps Out of the Back Seat [NYT]
