[red]The Sirius[/red]

[grey]Show – September 21st / Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia[/grey]



The Milan Fashion Week that took place this September presented some interesting new names, one of which comes from the International Fashion Showcase, an initiative organized by the British Fashion Council (BFC) and the British Council, supported by Mercedes-Benz, which rewarded last February in London the South Korean designer Younchan Chung with the Designer Award. Thanks to this recognition, the designer was able to bring his "the-sirius" line to Milan's catwalks at the Mercedes-Benz International Designer Exchange Program (IDEP) in collaboration with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

If South Korea is one of the most important Asian nations in the contemporary fashion scene, and the Seoul Fashion Week is a highly anticipated event, Younchan Chung is one of the most exciting emerging talent coming from that part of the world. A diploma at the Samsung Art and Design Institute in 2015, the designer created his "the-sirius" brand, when he was just 24 years old, and in the same year he was one of 24 designers selected for the H&M Design Awards and deserved also the Ceci Joongang Design Contest.

The ones we saw on the milanese catwalks are proposals conceived to be unisex, dresses with a silhouette that recalls futuristic architectures, with decisive shapes and clean lines, which find decorative elements in zip, pockets, geometric stitching, and striped motifs.
A line that wants to be an expression of the present world and whose minimalist appeal, also clear in the choice of a color palette in which beige, white, gray and brown primates, finds as counteract the sophistication of the fabrics and a close attention to details. Cleverly worked.
The Milan Fashion Week increases its cosmopolitan appeal and does it with a name that will surely have a lot to tell and to propose in the coming seasons.

[red]Brognano[/red]

[grey]Show – September 22nd / Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia[/grey]



Born in Calabria in 1990, Nicola Brognano studied at the Marangoni Institute in Milan. After his graduation he first worked with Giambattista Valli, both for the ready-to-wear line and for the Couture, then with Dolce & Gabbana for the Alta Moda line, and in the summer of 2015 he created the brand using only his last name: Brognano. A line of femininity and romance, but revisited in an exquisitely contemporary way, where elements of the men's wardrobe and others from streetwear coexist, reinterpreted for a contemporary woman.
With his line, Brognano won in July 2016 the prestigious "Who's On Next?" Competition, sponsored by Vogue Italia and AltaRoma, and now Brognano shows his line during the Milan Fashion Week alongside the collections of many other winners from past editions of WION.
And in September Brognano brought his collection for s/s 2018 to Milan.

For the next spring season, the young designer offers an imaginary journey into an eccentric and psychedelic garden, an ironic vision called AVANT GARDE (N), where the must-have element is the gardening apron, embroidered or covered by rouches.
The one proposed by Brognano is a post-modern Eden, where yellow faded flowers decorate the heads and flower prints mix with animal designs.
But again, it is the poetic of the contrasts that pervade the collection, so floral decorations tend to wrap the back of some garments with an androgynous attitude, blazer sleeves or menswear’s inspired work jackets. Fluid silk voile, organza, tulle, cotton canvas are combined with work materials such as nylon and patent, while sequins, jais embroidery or crystal fringing ornament ultra-lightweight fabrics. In the same item of clothing can coexist hyper-feminine details and workwear inspirational silhouettes. Gentle and neutral colors are contrasted with other brighter ones, the rigor meets the lightness. In a modern collection for a young woman who loves to mix references and details.


[red]Albino Teodoro[/red]

[grey]Show – September 23rd / Piazza Duomo - Scalone Arengario[/grey]



For the last two seasons he has come back to present his collection during the fashion days of Milan dedicated to women's collections, one of the most important and interesting names of the generational turnover that has been in the making in the italian fashion scene for some years now. Albino Teodoro has brought back on the catwalks is fashion that is always a fascinating story and a research on fabrics and volumes, not surprisingly, the designer's course has also included in the past Couture studies and collaborations with important names of the female elegance’s world.

The starting point for the 2018 s/s collection seems to be a kind of praise of the imperfection from which it is possible to create a modern beauty.
Just as when thinking about the Quartet of the Dissonances in Door Major K 465 of Mozart, where dissonance becomes musical, ie melodious, the contrasts and disagreements that lie in the collection are forged with a new beauty ideal.
A new geography of the body is, for example, resulting from a design where no identity or proportion is touched, but the ideal item of clothing does not have a well-defined size and the imagination must be free to guess the silhouette of the wearer. It seems that the air, intangible and natural, can create new volumes, almost abstract, where to escape any identifying stereotype.

The trench coat, the blazer jacket, the shirt, the work suit and the theatrical dress are the protagonists of the collection, while the fabrics chosen are three-dimensional, jacquard with Asian motifs, instriped duchesses, to masculine grisailles and rush-matting effects in gothic darks and silver-lurex patterns.
In the collection there is the meeting of two cultures, the Eastern and Western cultures, and looking for an ideal image traditional sartorial techniques and traditional costumes are mixed, just like decorative elements and fabrics, while asymmetry echoes both the Roman peplo and the simple lines of some Oriental dresses.
A sophisticated and fascinating idea of dressing where, even if the essence of the dress seems to have no depth, but it is all in its semblance, there is an almost intellectual taste of dressing, a precise awareness, because despite the praise of imperfection nothing seems to happen by chance.

[red]Ssheena[/red]

[grey]Show - September 25th / Palazzo Reale - Sala Cariatidi[/grey]



In the dense schedule of the Milanese fashion week in September, SSHEENA, the brand founded and designed by milan-born Sabrina Mandelli, was selected first by the important WHITE fair as Special Guest and then had a catwalk-show in Piazza Duomo, in the prestigious Sala delle Cariatidi at Palazzo Reale, in collaboration with CNMI with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development, ICE Agency, thanks to Confartigianato Imprese - partner of WHITE - and with the patronage of the City of Milan.

A degree at the Marangoni Institute in Milan in 2008, then important collaborations such as Dolce & Gabbana, Antonioli Group and now the role of Womenswear Head Designer and Style Coordinator for a supercool emerging brand like OFF-WHITE, and since 2015 the birth of her own brand, with which she won in 2016 the Time Award, and Ssheena is the name of the label. And when the reference is to a famous Ramones’ song, "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" it’s a clear statement of intents.

The line designed by Sabrina Mandelli, highly influenced by contemporary art, is for non-conforming women who do not really like quick temporary trends, and in every collection, strictly made in Italy, sportswear and workwear blend together. The designer plays with distinctive knitwear, perfect for creating architectural shapes, but also with the elements of italian tailoring. A collection with clean and pure lines, but more than simply minimalist, that loves to mix contrasts. Just like the attitude of the protagonist of the Ramones’ track, the Ssheena woman stands out for an innate coolness that makes her protagonist of her time.

Stefano Guerrini © Modemonline