Milan Fashion Week has come and gone, but not without serving up a delightful platter of noteworthy moments, both on and off the runway. There were buzzy designer debuts—Sabato de Sarno at Gucci and Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford—star-studded front rows (Prada brought out all of our favorites), and some of the best street style of the season. But what is it really like being a part of all the action? To find out, we enlisted Jessica Wang, globetrotter and one of the most influential arbiters of glamorous style, to give us her first person account of one of the most anticipated stops on the fashion week tour. From stylish dinners to Missoni fittings and a show-packed schedule, Wang had nary a free minute to spare, but that didn’t stop her from showing up and showing out in some seriously dreamy looks. Here, she shares all her MFW highlights exclusively for Who What Wear.
If you know me, you’re probably aware of my keen interest in trends that many would consider controversial. There’s the hot pants, of course, and underwear worn with just tights (no pants). I wear more low-rise jeans than high-rise ones these days and were fond of wedges before they came back. Though I often describe my style as classic and minimal, my obsession with out-there pieces and styling techniques would beg to differ. So, it should come as no surprise that a particular item caught my eye at Tory Burch’s spring/summer 2024 runway show earlier this week—an item that, for those who dressed themselves in the early to mid aughts, might bring with it some minor backlash.
The silhouette in question is capri pants, which haven’t been done in the chicest of ways in recent years, but got one hell of a face lift in Burch’s spring collection, which featured tailored versions of the anti-puddle pants three times, paired with blazers and matching lady jackets, not to mention sporty sunglasses, retro pocket books, and toe-ring footwear. Once so uncool, the sight of capris at the show immediately flipped my perception of them on its head, making me want to immediately leave the show and start shopping for pairs to add into my early fall wardrobe.
Lauren Sánchez can’t get enough of boyfriend Jeff Bezos.
The former news reporter, 53, and Amazon founder, 59, showed some PDA while on an “unforgettable” date at the Versace Fall-Winter 2023 fashion show in Los Angeles.
“Right before the Versace fashion show in LA with my favorite person ❤️,” Sánchez captioned a snap with her billionaire beau on Instagram Thursday.
“The clothes were jaw-dropping and Donatella Versace is a fashion icon. Thanks for an unforgettable show. @donatella_versace.”
The pair — who began dating in 2019 — matched in all black, with Sánchez rocking a dress covered in belts while Bezos opted for jeans and a patterned suit jacket.
After getting settled into their front row seats, Sánchez gave Bezos a sweet kiss on the cheek, as seen in a photo posted by Derek Blasberg.
The twosome looked every bit in love as they snuggled up to one another as Sánchez latched onto Bezos.
“When I first heard his laugh, I was like, ‘Whoa! What is that?’ Now I love it,” she told WSJ. Magazine last month.
“He’s so happy, he inspires me every day, he makes me a better person every day; he’s the most loving human I know,” she said.
Prior to their romance, Bezos was married to MacKenzie Scott, whom he divorced in April 2019 after 25 years of marriage. The former couple share four children.
Similarly, Sánchez was married to Patrick Whitesell for 13 years. The twosome settled their divorce in October 2019.
To prepare for her trip to the Big Apple, the now-Los Angeles resident packed a bunch of her mother’s clothes — and a bright orange $5 dress she bought on the clearance rack at a boutique in Santa Monica— which she wore to a Grammys pre-party last month.
“Everyone comes to these fashion shows, front row in like designer, decked out in Prada, Gucci,” Perl, 22, told The Post.
“And everyone’s walking around with the microphone … ‘Who are you wearing?’ And I’m like, ‘Zara … and I’m gonna return it tomorrow.’ That’s just who I am.”
Perl always wore hand-me-downs in her youth, and can’t shake the habit of buying cheap and second-hand outfits.
“Growing up, fashion was never my thing, because I just couldn’t afford clothes,” she said in a TikTok video she posted during Fashion Week.
However, she now has the means to fill her closet with luxury brands. She earns $40,000 a month, mainly from selling her pre-recorded classes, which are based on the belief that your thoughts create your reality.
Her online road to success started in November 2020, when she was a college sophomore double-majoring in education and history. She started a TikTok page under the name HotHigh Priestess, doing tarot card readings.
In just one year, she had 1 million followers. Now it’s more than 2 million.
“The first videos I posted instantly got millions of views. It was … absolutely unreal,” she explained.
A so-called spiritual influencer, she gives others “the belief that they can achieve more, they can accomplish anything despite their circumstances.”
“Because, you know, given the way I grew up … this story that I was always fed was one of struggle … People like you don’t make it out,” she said. “So it’s always been my goal to show people that they can make it out because I did.”
She first left Brooklyn to attend a prestigious university in the Boston area, with the help of financial aid, taking out loans, and working two jobs.
“I was going to college with so many rich people … and I was in a program, it was literally for poor kids. And I was just looking at these kids who were getting college paid for when I was going thousands of dollars in debt,” she recalled. “My parents didn’t even pay for my textbooks.”
Her legion of loyal social media followers include people from her Title I high school.
“I actually just recently got a message from a girl from my high school who was like, ‘You know, I don’t even think you understand how much we needed to hear this story,’” she said.
Even the ones who once bullied her reach out in support.
“There’s people from the past who used to bully me and are like, ‘Oh, I love you,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s funny.’”
Valentino is living up to his fashionable namesake.
Julia Fox took her mind-bending fashions from New York City to Italy, turning up at the Diesel show during Milan Fashion Week with a special date: her 2-year-old son.
The actress posed with the tot while arriving at the show, wearing a tiny bandeau top emblazoned with the brand’s logo, a low-slung pair of jeans and all-denim accessories, including her heels and purse.
Valentino was also decked out in denim, sporting a tiny jacket and jeans with a vest over a T-shirt and adorable black cowboy boots.
The “Uncut Gems” star held Valentino and showed off her signature fox-eye makeup look and her freshly dyed red hair, which she debuted in NYC earlier this month and did herself.
Diesel is a particularly significant fashion brand for Fox; not only was she born and raised in Italy, but she also starred in the brand’s Fall 2020 ad campaign.
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She really got the fashion treatment in January 2022 when her then-boyfriend, Kanye West, wooed her on their second date by surprising her with an “entire hotel room” filled with 40 looks by the brand — with a rep telling Page Six Style at the time that the clothes totaled up to $100,000 — which the rapper curated for her.
“It was every girl’s dream come true. It felt like a real Cinderella moment. I don’t know how he did it, or how he got all of it there in time,” Fox wrote in a blog-style Interview magazine story at the time, which was accompanied by a full photo spread showing the pieces and West dressing up his then-muse.
Though the highly publicized romance didn’t even last a month, Fox’s relationship with Diesel has stood the test of time.
One week after her breakup from Ye, Fox dutifully sat front row at the brand’s fashion show — solo.
Models at Milan Fashion Week took “fall” fashion to new heights at the AVAVAV show, tumbling on the runway and leaving the audience in shock.
The startling performance racked up millions of views online, with many falling for the looks, touting the topples as “genius.” One video alone amassed 11.1 million views and thousands of comments.
The drop-dead luxury fits were on display during the Florence-based brand’s first-ever live show led by creative director Beate Karlsson, who said the falling was all planned.
Playing up satire and slighting the fashion industry’s obsession with status, the “Filthy Rich” line included knock-off luxury logos re-designed with “AV” and graphic tops reading “cash cow.” Karlsson even crafted a necklace from three Rolex watches, which could be yours for a mere $300,000.
AVAVAV described the collection as commentary on the current social agenda, in which, “cash and escapism” are at the top, per a press release. The falling stunt, then, was meant to debunk the industry’s self-imposed gravitas and demystify the “fake” personas people adopt.
“It’s so easy in this generation to fake and filter parts of our lives on social media, but all of this can go away so easily,” she told Vogue. “Falling shows this. The fall makes you lose face when you hit the floor, reality catches you right there.”
But the designer isn’t blind to her hypocrisy, saying she isn’t “embarrassed” because she can “see the irony in it.”
“Lately I want something different. I want to look like I have my s–t together, look wealthy, like I have no problems. So many of us want to look rich, and now I do too,” she continued, noting that her collection mimics and pokes fun at the same realm it exists in.
“We’re trying to take the bits and parts of the fashion system we like,” she added, “but still live outside of it as well doing our thing.”
On TikTok, users were tripped up over the brand’s runway performance, unsure at first if it was accidental or ingenious.
“The opening of the show shocked me for a second,” reads text on the clip that amassed over 11 million views and dubs Karlsson a “genius” in the caption.
“This show is going to be extremely viral and all over the Internet just because of this simple concept,” the TikToker, called The Futurist, continued in the comments.
“I’m guessing it’s their fall collection 22,” quipped someone else.
Other videos with 1.3 million and 1.4 million views showed various snaps of the models stumbling on the runway, somehow still looking graceful. Commenters showered Karlsson’s idea in praise, crowning it as “iconic,” “amazing” and “cool.”
Since joining AVAVAV in 2020, Karlsson’s designs have caused quite the ruckus on social media — including Doja Cat’s chicken feet-like boots at the MTV Music Video Awards in 2021 and the realistic silicone rump modeled after Kim Kardashian.
But “doing well” online isn’t the main motivator for her designs — just a cheeky coincidence, and a wow factor she has clearly used to her advantage.
“I don’t necessarily want to design things with the intention of being meme-able, and that’s actually been an inner discussion I’ve had with myself,” she told Vogue, “Am I doing this because I think it will go viral or because it’s something I stand behind as a design?”
To the naked eye, the clear trend on the runways at New York Fashion Week was nearly no clothes at all.
Nudity and varying levels of nakedness seemed to reign supreme for the Spring 2023 season at NYFW, which ended on Wednesday. Several labels put out barely-there creations, like Prabal Gurung who sent Vice President Kamala Harris’ model stepdaughter Ella Emhoff out in a shocking sheer green curtain-like garment tied around her neck which exposed her bare breasts.
Collina Strada boldly freed the nipple, with a floral design constructed of wires and airbrushed areola that attached to a long pink chiffon dress. “Girls” star Jemima Kirke also walked the runway with a bikini top made out of flowers, with the nipple area conveniently punched out.
Julia Fox wore a similarly experimental “dripping wet” outfit designed by a Parsons MFA student designer, Weiran, who saved even more risque designs for the runway.
At Puppets & Puppets, one model was mere millimeters from a wardrobe malfunction with makeshift butterfly pasties while Bella Hadid was a cough away from a similar fate for Fendi, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Baguette handbag.
At Sergio Hudson and Mowalola, nip slips were part of the program, as several models purposefully bared flesh.
LaQuan Smith showed a black bodysuit with cutouts and a thin string covering a model’s nipples while other looks from the designer beloved by Beyonce and Rihanna weren’t so subtle, with completely sheer fabric and nary a bra in sight. Jason Wu also championed see-through, a trend certainly in the zeitgeist already thanks to Florence Pugh’s heavily-debated Valentino dress.
Even Tory Burch, normally one for sophisticated sportswear, let the nip slip, sending models Vittoria Ceretti and Emily Ratajkowski in extraordinarily sheer knits and brassieres. All of these body-baring looks will undoubtedly have stylists for pop stars, Kardashians and other look-at-me peacocks clamoring to wear and bare.
While bras were largely ditched on the runway, plenty of street style stars and spectators skipped shirts altogether, donning just their bras at shows for shock and awe.
But beyond good ole fashioned skin, it’s tough to rally together trends in the era of TikTok where anything goes as long as it goes viral.
One immediate trend emerged — much to the nightmare of New Yorkers’ preferred head-to-toe black — and color is definitely back and bolder than ever, here to wipe away all muted tones from pandemic-era athleisure. The safe-for-work trend was omnipresent, as predicted by Pantone. Bright orange was a common thread, seen at Altuzarra, Supim,a Monse, Dion Lee, Naeem Khan, and more.
Marni showed blood red during the Italian brand’s NYFW debut, purple at LaQuan Smith, bold shades of blue at Michael Kors, electric yellow and green at Proenza Schouler, which celebrated its 20th year, and Maisie Wilen, with lime green in a collection — and appearance from Emhoff — meant to showcase the art of the green screen. Telfar was a rainbow of perfection, ad even sold an array of color Bushwick Birkin bags at a Brooklyn Rainbow store. This fad has been bubbling for a while, so those hoping to test out the rainbow can ease into color now before it really takes off come spring. Pantone summed it up as “individual expression,” so just pick a color, any color — but preferably neon — and rock it.
It’s also safe to say nostalgia for turn-of-the-millennium milieu isn’t going anywhere either, judging by Fendi’s furry hats, not unlike Pamela Anderson’s 1999 VMAs hat, jelly sandals worn by Lil Nas X at Coach and flared trousers with slits from Brandon Maxwell. Cargo pants, already making their way into fast fashion, were aplenty, with Dion Lee, Tibi, Fendi, Collina Strada and more channeling their best early aughts fashions. It’s Y2K all over again, without the hysteria.
Also, sending sincerest regards to fellow fashionistas still suffering PTSD from low-rise but the cut really is back, seen at Prabal Gurung, Tom Ford, Puppets & Puppets, Fendi and too many more to name. The same goes for baring the navel in general, center stage at LaQuan Smith, Coach and the star-studded Vogue World show, which featured a multitude of brands and famous models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. This generation seems to have skipped belly button piercings, thankfully.
That’s not to say elegance is dead, though. Sergio Hudson had it in spades, Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera put out a garden-inspired party full of fancy frocks, Michael Kors went for 1970s-inspired tailoring, Tom Ford showed “Dynasty”-esque sequin gowns and Serena Williams shined bright in a silver metallic Balenciaga dress at Vogue World. Christian Siriano and Pamella Roland could always be counted on for glam, as can New York high society’s go-to courtier Zang Toi, who went full haute couture with a modern black and white ball. After years of dressing down, glamour is in demand.
And yes, expect some florals for spring. Carolina Herrera, Ulla Johnson and Brandon Maxwell are doing it and doing it well. Malaysian-born Toi dazzled with a showstopping silk gazar mini dress that included a hand-pinned arrangement of white silk peonies and butterflies covered in an intricate cloud of tulle, fashioned into a bolero. Now that’s groundbreaking.
For design buffs hoping to see real risks taken in form and fabric worth talking about, the Concept Korea show should not be overlooked. K-fashion labels like BESFXXK, Cahiers and ULKIN should be credited for inspiring structural designs and taken seriously as players in the landscape — much more than say Tommy Hilfiger whose homage to Andy Warhol’s iconic Factory, a counterculture mecca of originality in the 1960s, somehow translated to Hilfiger’s tired stripe motif and preppy letterman jackets as well as, most puzzlingly, one-third of a Blink 182 performance.
Only the tin foil, Silver Cloud recreations and faces on the runway — Warhol Superstar Donna Jordan and Bob Colacello, longtime editor of Warhol’s Interview mag — were remotely Warholian in his highly-anticipated return to NYFW on Monday. No wonder it rained.
If New York felt dizzying or uninspiring, it’s a long fashion month with London, Milan and Paris to look forward to.
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