At times of crisis, designers tend to take one of two routes: escape, real or imaginary, or the ‘here and now’, i.e. stay rooted in the present. For the former option, the imagination runs riot and everything becomes possible, like rewinding a good film and showing it on a loop, because cinema often offers a good escape from reality. For the latter option, only today exists. Don’t look back because the past is irrelevant to the uncertainty and fear we are living through right now. And if we absolutely must draw inspiration from something real, let it be everyday life, our home, our street, our pet cat. The latest collections clearly take these two antithetical approaches and attach rather distinct styles to them. gives free rein to the imagination because it is there that we can take refuge, as though in a fairy tale. Reassuring cocoon shapes, the ancestral beauty of nature expressed through floral and animal motifs, vibrant colours like flame red bringing life, energy and warmth. Iridescence is ‘the shining’, butterfly wings become fairy are represented by old-school cinema and movie stars built up to gorgeous, unattainable divinities. They were coveted by many designers for that unique style that, back then, heralded an era and made people dream. Marlene Dietrich’s ambiguous mix of masculine and feminine with her tailored coats and outfits that appeared on the runways in oversize though well-structured shapes. Ava Gardner’s sensuality was shown in hourglass dresses and slip dresses, but also in masculine suits and coats. The ‘50s of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn were reflected in circle skirts, cinched waists and plunging necklines. means designers don’t have to go looking for answers in other worlds or a gold-tinted past, but instead find them within themselves or in the women they design for. Past pieces are updated and reworked, stripped of the superfluous; contrasting shapes and sizes appear, as well as basic tones that look very normal but are brightened by flashes and bursts of colour.
