By Lauren Zazzara
Features Assignment Editor
While New York City set the stage for autumn and winter 2015 trends three weeks ago, the fashion world’s eye has since moved to London and Milan for their fashion weeks.
London Fashion Week took place from Feb. 20 to 24, while Milan’s designers showcased their looks from Feb. 25 to Mar. 3. Themes included earthy ‘70s bohemian vibes, fur and deep colors.
Topshop Unique, a branch of the popular store Topshop which opened its first store in the US in 2009, served a collection full of fur coats, scarves, leather pants and skirts. Many of the items featured a dandelion print. Some featured feathers as well; for example, one dress had a bodice covered in black feathers. Topshop Unique is relatively inexpensive compared to most of the brands featured at fashion week, with most of its items costing a couple hundred dollars rather than a couple thousand.
In the same bohemian vein, the Burberry Prorsum show contained oversized ponchos with exaggerated fringe and fur coats in earthy colors such as tan and olive. The designers showed dresses and jackets in Oriental-inspired florals (reminiscent of kimonos) as well. Suede was a popular fabric for this show, popping up in fringe skirts, coats and capes and in thigh-high boots.
Mary Katrantzou has created a popular and quirky English brand in recent years, and the autumn collection proves why it has gained this reputation. Katrantzou created peplum skirts, floral, knee-length jackets with toggle buttons and coats and dresses with baroque prints. Colors included black, white and gray, as well as deep red, blue and yellow. Big studs on pockets of coats and on belts added edge to the outfits.
Meanwhile, in Milan, Dolce and Gabbana created a collection inspired by mothers, showing some pregnant models and models holding babies and children, according to The Guardian. About half of the ensembles featured mother-friendly items such as dresses with motherly phrases such as “je t’aime maman” (I love you mom) and “amor per sempre” (love for all) embroidered on them. Other dresses had prints with houses, cats, teddy bears and other common household items. A few dresses featured a Mary-and-Jesus print. The other half of the collection was less mother-friendly, with black lace, velvet dresses and skirts.
Compared to the motherly sophistication of Dolce and Gabbana, Moschino created a youthful collection slightly reminiscent of “Jersey Shore.” The collection combined winter and summer with miniskirts in puffer jacket material and bathing suits paired with coats. Bright colors such as purple, neon green, orange and gold showed up in big puffer jackets and bra tops. Loose dresses, jackets and skirts featured characters from “The Looney Tunes.” The collection drew inspiration from the ‘90s in its use of logos. Thigh-high quilted boots had gold chains wrapped around them that held charms that read “Moschino.” Gold belts spelled out “Moschino,” and “Moschino” was written across crop tops and dresses. Denim-heavy outfits harkened back to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake at the 2001 American Music Awards. Heavy gold jewelry finished off the looks.
After Milan Fashion Week finishes, the fashion world will turn towards Paris to tell everyone what to wear.
