No traffic jams, no rush to the next venue, no front rows — not even socially distanced. Milan Fashion Week is unfolding entirely on computer screens and social media platforms this round for the first time ever, as the persistent virus resurgence dashed any hopes of even a handful of physical shows.
Luxury is in an enforced period of evolution in this new world order of rotating lockdowns, where virtually no one has anywhere to go. So it was a mostly captive audience that flocked to social media by the hundreds of thousands (and counting as the shows live on virtually) to watch Milan designers unveil new menswear collections for next winter, which, vaccines willing, may see a return to in-person shopping.
In its digitally conceived preview, Prada on Sunday introduced the new anti-uniform that speaks to our new intimacy in our ever-tighter circles: luxury long-johns.
The first menswear collection by the Miuccia Prada-Raf Simons collaboration announced almost a year ago was unveiled on a runway traversing spaces clad in soft faux fur in purple, celeste and scarlet. Skinny men in tight knit union suits in graphic architecture-inspired patterns grooved in outtakes spliced into the runway show.
