Milan Fashion Week: The latest art movement influencing the Fall 2014 shows
Photography by Peter Stigter
Prada Fall 2014
Prada Fall 2014
Day Two of Milan fashion week started and ended with a laugh: Cara Delevingne opened the Fendi show carrying a furry Karl Lagerfeld doll while drones buzzed overhead. And Jeremy Scott closed the day with a send up of McDonalds, Chanel and Sponge Bob for his Moschino debut. In between there were lots of shoulder details, shearling and digi prints to note.
But it was the early 20th century Constructivist art movement that turned out to be the word of the day. If it’s been a while since your last art history class, here’s a refresher. Constructivism is the early 20th century avant-garde movement characterized by abstract geometry. But it’s the description I found on the MoMa website that I want to focus on, one that depicts Constructivism as precise, impersonal, and having a clear formal order.
Now have a look at some of the abstract geometry from day two of the Milan shows:
The sheer/opaque shirting at Ports 1961.
The tweed/plaid mixes at MaxMara.
The fur “escaping” from the seams of wool and mesh coats and dresses at Fendi.
And the entire Prada collection, from the boxy tri-colour coats to the geo-prints to the sheer shifts over chevron knits.
Precise. Impersonal. A clear formal order. Constructivism might just be a new term for the colour and fabric-blocking popular for some seasons now. Or it might be a whole new movement just unfolding. Stay tuned.
Bernadette Morra is the former editor-in-chief of FASHION magazine. She has been covering the Canadian and international fashion scenes for more than 30 years, first at The Toronto Star, then at FASHION. Over her long career Bernadette has interviewed many fashion world legends including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Gianni Versace.