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FASHION

Black is back as Milan Fashion Week opens

Forget rainbow knits and ruby galoshes. All the signs are that black is back in a big way as Milan fashion week kicks off on Wednesday.

Black is back as Milan Fashion Week opens
Milan will this week host 68 catwalk shows, 80 presentations and 151 collections. Milan photo: Shutterstock

After Gothic trends dominated catwalk shows in New York and London, all eyes now turn to Italy to see if the likes of Prada, Gucci and Armani embrace the vampiric garlic-and-stake look for next winter's must-haves.

Fashionistas, models, buyers and their chauffeurs are descending on the northern Italian city for a fast-paced week of catwalk shows, stellar swag bags and champagne-fuelled parties in the streets around the Gothic cathedral.

The New York and London Fall-Winter 2015 shows left Brooklyn hipsters and Shoreditch hepcats rushing to get their hands on black frocks, studded coats and some serious eyeliner.

Trend-spotters will be looking to see if the cities' penchant for brocade, fur and shearling will be given a stiletto twist by Italy's masters of chic – while renegade unisex normcores will ignore all of the above and stick to strictly casual with comfy shoes.

In the pink

Whether black turns out to be the new black or not, Milan is decidedly in the pink after a long economic downturn which hit the luxury industry hard.

"The fashion economy is back on track. It's going to be an excellent fashion week shaped by the sort of economic situation we've not seen for years," said Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Fashion Chamber.

After a 3.7 percent rise in turnover in 2014, the chamber has forecast just a 1.6 percent increase for 2015. But "favourable economic circumstances mean that figure is destined to grow," said the fashion force who is stepping down in April after 15 years in which he has boosted ties with emerging markets and Chinese talent in particular.

A longstanding row over timetables has been resolved – at least for this season – so that Gucci and Armani will bookend the shows before the fashion extravaganza decamps to Paris.

The Gucci expo is the most hotly awaited of the season as new creative director and former accessory designer Alessandro Michele unveils his first women's wear collection after taking over from the formidable Frida Giannini.

New stars in town  

The rest of the week's line-up is packed: 68 catwalk shows, 80 presentations and 151 collections unveiled in total, along with numerous exhibitions and projects linked to Milan's Expo 2015 world fair, which kicks off in May.

Beyond the shining lights of the city's luxury stores in the renowned "golden triangle", workshops, showrooms and art galleries will also be opening their doors for the "5Vie" ("5 Streets") festival in the historic centre.

Those looking for upcoming talent will be sure to catch the presentation by Vienna-born Arthur Arbesser, who studied at Central Saint Martins and did seven years at Armani before striking out on his own, and has been shortlisted for the prestigious LVMH prize.

And of course no one will miss Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, a 35-year-old whose bold artisan prints have already been spotted on R&B superstar Rihanna.

 

A photo posted by Stella Jean (@stellajeanltd) on Feb 18, 2015 at 12:41pm PST

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FASHION

Paris exhibition celebrates 100 years of French Vogue

A new exhibition in Paris will tell the story of 100 years of French Vogue - from the post-war 'New Look' of Christian Dior through the sexual liberation of the 1960s to the dangling-cigarette waifs of the 2000s.

French Vogue celebrates 100 years
French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance. 

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