FASHION Magazine

With Milan Fashion Week just kicking off, here are my top five obsessions of day one:

1. Gucci‘s opulent romanticism: Judging from the miles of velvet and silk, iridescent feathered frocks, croc saddlebags, leather capes, uniform-inspired dress coats, and innovative fabric mixes (mink inlaid on chiffon, anyone?), Gucci’s Fall 2012 collection begs for a crisp night and a brilliant moon.

2. Brian Atwood: We love the man and the shoes. I popped into Atwood’s showroom to preview his new Fall 2012 collection, which includes his first full line of handbags. Editors and buyers were asked not to tweet, so you’ll have to use your imagination: over-the-knee lace-up leopard-print boots, giraffe and Dalmatian patterns, blue fringed cross-body bags, multi-coloured python clutches with metal rivets, and plush minaudieres. One word: WANT.

You’ve already heard about the kafuffle caused by fashion week scheduling next fall, that timing for MFW is going to overlap with both LFW and PFW. Quelle horror! To make matters much worse, a press release surfaced this morning from the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana in which Milan responds to New York, London, and Paris’ unwillingness to alter their fashion week schedules, and claiming that a written agreement from 2010 had MFW scheduled to take place between the 19^th and 25^th of September—as per usual—and which they’ve decided they’ll stick to. Dun dun dun…

But here comes the real drama: today’s statement from the Italian board of directors reads: “Such an accuse, in addition to representing an aggressive and arrogant attitude towards CNMI, used unfair argumentation in order to impose—in a unilateral way—not shared decisions. In conclusion, the Board of Directors and the Designers’ Roundtable have unanimously decided to confirm the schedule as it was previously announced on March 17th 2010: [MFW] will be held from Wednesday 19th to Tuesday 25th of September 2012.”

Our last batch of Milan photos sure is a whopper. And by that we mean a proverbial multi-layered burger of amazingly costumed models at Missoni and Dsquared, editors, and some wowee architecture shots. Stay tuned for snaps from Paris starting tomorrow!

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Quick! If you act fast you can update your Paris front-row worthy wardrobe with the following Spring 2012 trends—as they happen— already showing up on It girls in the know:

1. Heavy plastic sunglasses

2. Knife-pleat skirts

Boy, people really like to match the shows they attend. Outside Sunday’s Dolce & Gabbana show, we spotted many, many, many versions of the duo’s wears, specifically the Fall 2011 collection. Have fun spotting the literal stars amongst the proverbial (style) stars in this gallery.

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1. Grunge-y rocker chicks with frizzy, up-all-night-in-the-rain hair, swinging
beer bottles and “Manitoba It bags”(a slouchy, fringed boho affair).

Ciao, Milano! Now, it’s onto Paris. But before we turn our attention from Piazza Oberdan to the Grand Palais, we wanted to share some of our favourite beauty looks from MFW. Here are five we love.

Minx nails at Missoni
A departure from the nude nails seen on Milan runways last season, these custom-printed Minx nail appliqués were applied over an iridescent base. We’re praying that like Missoni for Target, these beauties make it to the masses, too.

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And the models keep coming! Today Lewis has spotted a number of beauties, including Arizona Muse, Kasia Struss, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Alana Zimmer, and Anja Rubik running in and out of Emilio Pucci and Jil Sander! Natch.

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Sunday may be a day of rest for some, but here in Milan the pace is fast and furious (no time for even a gelato stop!). In a jam-packed day of shows, here are the highlights:

Marni: We saw naïve and childlike daisy prints, ice cream colours, and a new silhouette for Consuelo Castiglioni that focused on a fitted waist and dramatic A-line shapes; that, plus the craftiness we’ve come to expect each season—the embroidery, raffia, crochet, patent, bright trim on spectator bags and shoes—and more geometric prints than high school math class. Oh, and the most drool-worthy earrings of the week.

1. Rose gold or mirrored silver metallic.

2. Sleek stilettos: buh bye chunky platforms, and hello Celine pointy high-vamp pumps.

3. Sky-high hemlines and higher heels.

Billy Idol‘s “Hot in the City” played on soundtrack as Donatella Versace‘s modern mermaids paraded the catwalk in under-the-sea neoprene gold studded scuba jackets, white hot short suits, and bandeau brassieres with slim pencil skirts in pretty pastel, sea shell and sea-horse prints. Save for the pageant worthy finale gowns, it was short, sexy and ultra feminine—certainly fit for a new-age Ariel.

What’s with me and pillow pilferers at Etro? Once again this season, I took my seat, waited patiently for the show to start, behaved myself like a good girl, minded my own business and quietly admired the purple paisley pillow seat cushion I would bring home to add to my daughter Molly’s collection. But alas, foiled again!

Just like at the Spring ’10 show, my pillow was grabbed out from under me—by some greedy robber! This time, sadly, I didn’t get a chance to grab it back. But the show must go on.