WOMEN COLLECTIONS SPRING/SUMMER 2017

America is trying once again to be . Fifteen years after the attack on the Twin Towers and one month from the presidential election that will bring an end to Obama’s mandate and elect either a woman or a billionaire, the country is using as a ‘distraction’ one of the nicest ways of testing the nation’s mood: fashion. And despite past and present terrorist attacks, uncertainty, threats and global insecurities. And not only with the customary runway shows, essential for narrative and promotional purposes, but also with bordering on art and inventing , while new marketing strategies such as allow consumers to buy the clothes they have just seen on the catwalk, making collections immeditely usable. Tommy Hilfiger calls it “”, enthusiastically signing up by presenting his Autumn/Winter collection now. The effects of this new revolution will be seen over time, but it is certain that adopting the new strategy, along with increasingly shows, bears further witness to the vitality of a system that refuses to give in to a crisis in the traditional model, inherited from the great couturiers of the last century, and is now moving forward and accepting new challenges. The clothes themselves offered up by the designers are also providing an optimistic and vital response, on the one hand dusting off or, rather, holding firm to the mainstays of American fashion – , minimalism and functionality – and on the other going for , with a preference for and natural motifs in general. Everyone, to varying degrees, is mixing masculine elements and echoes, a decade still going strong on the runways perhaps because of its revolutionary and forward-looking character. The trend for purposely ‘wrong’ looks, in which shapes, materials and colours clash with one another, is also strong. While ‘Uncovered’ reveals shoulders, midriff and legs thanks to and other and/or that bare the navel. These trends show the designers’ desire to cater to the most influential category in fashion: , who mix and match the most disparate cultural references and could not care less about conventional good taste. One designer constantly focused on what young women want and whose style has always had a sportswear element to it is Alexander Wang, whose latest collection mixed , while was the order of the day at Dkny, another young urban brand. Derek Lam was sporty and minimal, while Vera Wang’s was teamed with . Altuzarra explored , cherries and lemons, the Rodarte duo a fairy-tale populated by bees in the form of , and Michael Kors and fruity colours. One theme everyone agreed on was energetic, femininity – the bearer of hope and optimism, which America has always stood for and which the whole world needs right now.