YOUTHQUAKE IN PARIS STARS MIU MIU
(by Elisa Cecchi)
06 marzo, 15:25
(ANSA) - Rome, March 6 - A youthful vibe rocked the runway
as the 2014 women's fall fashion shows wrapped up in Paris.Youthfulness was celebrated by Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent's Hedi Slimane, Giambattista Valli for Moncler Gamme Rouge and Nicolas Ghesquiere, one of the most beloved and copied designers who made a much-awaited debut at Louis Vuitton on Wednesday, elevating a contemporary fling with the 1960s to new heights.
Youth topped the menu du jour as well for Miuccia Prada who presented a new type of Miu Miu girl on Wednesday. Once again, the Italian designer took everyday utilitarian gear and raised it to new levels, turning the most un-luxurious item - quilted nylon - into an object of desire around which a whole collection was built.
And if normality was important, creating the perfect windbreaker - neither too puffy nor too flat - was key in a collection built on the idea that "when design becomes excessive it is not fashion anymore" and that "strong ideas" don't coincide with decorative design, said Prada.
Notes of baby blue, grey, light pink and yellow highlighted the extreme simplicity of industrial fabrics and gave them unexpected freshness.
"I had an obsession for down jackets, but the ones I conceived were too beautiful, obvious, commercial", said Prada of the creative work leading up to her fall collection.
Then she found the perfect padding for the perfect windbreaker, "neither too flat nor puffy-puffy...something which took up three-fourths of my work".
As the show progressed, the windbreakers, dresses, two-piece suits and skirts in quilted nylon turned from youthfully utilitarian to sophisticated, with metal appliques on nylon or brocades, although the sense of normality and everyday use was still there.
The playfulness continued in clothes that were not in quilted nylon, like the very short and very long parkas in blue and grey wool, with nylon inserts, and the PVC trench coats.
Furs were vibrantly youthful combined with a bright yellow plastic hood as were transparent trench coats mixed with elegant cream or soft pink dresses and heels.
The ordinary became luxurious also with coloured lurex which ran through windbreakers, parkas and suits.
Even galoshes became special and played a lead role in the collection though in the footwear department many decidedly sporty looks were counterbalanced by ultra stylish kitten heels.
Yet in spite of the handiwork in the intricate metal appliqués, the young woman showcased on the Miu Miu catwalk with Tori Amos and Depeche Mode playing in the background would not have been out of place in front of a Milan Lycee or going to après-work drinks in New York - at once intensely normal and avant-garde.
