There was really no way: a show that celebrated 100 years of Fendi would always mean celebrating the fur.
After all, the brand started as a handbag and fur workshop. And according to Silvia Venturini Fendi, the designer behind the Centenary Collection and the only remaining family member involved in the company (now owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), when she started thinking about how that could see, she thought of her first Fendi memory. That happened to be herself in 1966, 6 years old, walking in her first Fendi show and wearing a children’s makers with a childhood, designed by Karl Lagerfeld. She had the photo on her mood board Backstage.
So no surprise that what turned out to be a beautiful Fendi show was first opened with the 6-year-old twin grandchildren of Mrs. Venturini who wear new versions of that jacket, and then with what a voluptuous fox fur seemed to be (or rather a fox-like shearling, because that was most of the most of the fur), Kleuterte in the Wist. Or that it was followed by more fur, among the graceful beads 1920s and strong shouldered suits that fell stylistically somewhere between the 40s and 80s, including Intarsia fur. Not to mention the best new accessory of the week: a long fur waistcoat-cum scarf that was simply the collar and for a large jacket, cut to be worn in itself.
But to see fur, or at least what looked like fur, on almost any other runway in Milan? That was unexpected. Especially since what was really remarkable about the fur-for-alles was how very nou yes, hairy All it perhaps looked. Almost Yeti-Furry. 1980 Ivana Trump Furry. Mob Vrouw Furry. I am all-in-fur hairy.
That also made it impossible to avoid the conclusion that, in terms of designers, this specific material was out of favor for a long time, was again part of the fashion arsenal.
But is it fur?
It would be easy to see this as another example of the general recoil against Wakker -ism; A pent -up rejection of the animal police. But something nuanced and even confusing is going on.
“Well, it is Shearling, not fur,” said Matteo Tamburini, creative director of Tod’s, for his show of long, shady outerwear with a neatly enclosed silhouette and a large, verychy coat. Sorry, Shearling.
Undoubtedly Shearling, who is actually the skin of a new shaved lamb with the wool, is actually a kind of fur – PETA qualifies it as “animal” – But because it can also be a by -product, the implication seems to be less controversial.
In any case, Maximilian Davis of Ferragamo said almost the same after sending a cool, dance-inspired collection with not only large fur coats, but fur shrugs and fur flip-flops even fur uses as an accent around the waist of a thin chiffon shift.
“It’s all Skarling,” he said. “Fur is something that we cannot use today, we should not use today, but all suppliers have developed techniques and various details that are able to imitate real fur.” And that was something, he continued that he wanted to show off; A luxury in itself.
And there was more Skarling – the kind that looked like mink – at Prada. Shearling (Big White Chubbies) at Dolce & Gabbana. Long -haired Shearling at Emporio Armani for men and women. There were huge, floor-wiping, boho-luxury woolen fur at Etro and large faux fur stairing hats. Faux Fur Again (a leopard/foxmix) at Roberto Cavalli and even a faux bontrok in Ferrari. Not to mention fake fur that is used as a kind of psychotic finish at Bally, which has become the unexpected highlight of the Milan shows among the designer Simone Bellotti.
Come under the skin (s)
In bottle green, pink and black, frame the rough ball as if a high crack in a black leather skirt is framed; emphasized the tail vocate cut from a gray flannel tunic and played Peekaboo with a matching pair of gray flannel shorts; Or filled in the bottom of a neat peplum top. They were a trademark weird in a different unspoilt collection and part of what the work of Mr. Makes Bellotti so attractive. He is a genius in suggesting the twist under the surface of the knoted. (And he made the best black dress of the week: an organza jacket slips cloudy from a shoulder).
Why he was attracted to fur – “it’s the wildness,” said Mr. Bellotti after the show. It was the suggestion, he said, taking a break in the routine, such as taking five seconds from a study session to go to the corner and to scream.
That is the thing about all this fur: it plays different roles in the spirit of the maker. And possibly the eye of the viewer. Or the psyche of the person wearing it.
Rocco Iannone, the creative director of Ferrari, said, for example, that he was attracted to Faux Bont because of the way in which they transferred “volumes” – the feeling of devout that connects with the brand. Mr Tamburini of Tod said he was starting to see fur on children on the street for the first time and followed their lead.
Mr Davis van Ferragamo said: ‘It just feels super rich and super glamorous. When I think of Ferragamo’s DNA, it’s all about the Glamor in the film stars Hollywood and 1950 and they all had fur for their shoulders. “He wanted, he said,” to take those references and make them modern. “
And at Fendi, Mrs. Venturini Fendi said that her shearling (and two herringbone pieces of real mink) “were a nod to what Fendi was and is still.” Just like the oboe ribbed hats with clouds of Black Net who represented her grandmother’s hair network. “I give a lot of respect to the fact that something, when it is beautiful, is always beautiful,” she said.
If all this sounds like justification, it can be that. If it sounds like a case of designers who want their cake (be sensitive to the animal rights movement) and also eat it (claim that it is not really colorful), it can also be. Because whatever you want to call this ‘fur’ that they are actually made of, what most people will see is exactly that: fur. And that ticks in an atavistic instinct that is buried deep in our lizard brain. One that may be harder to eliminate than someone thought.
