Here we are again, it’s almost time to go and lie on the beach for a month or so, here in MilanoFashionLand, but we’re still working, still doing F A S H I O N, and no matter what I said this morning, there’s still news to be told! Fresh from my iPhone, here’s the Moschino and Cheap & Chic pre S/S 2011 collection: Classic Moschino Irony with fun slogans (Love Is In The Hair!…with a hairpins-appliqèd collar!) and details, hairpins become epaulettes and metal combs become medals, old-aunt pearl and lace removable collars make the clsssic LBD ever more versatile, chains and piercings decorate classic Chanel-like jackets, pop-cartoon prints are spalshed on accessories… We obviously love the direction the house has taken and hope it will keep on entertaining us for years to come!

R.S.

A hot desert wind was blowing through Paris last week, as quite a few designers showed their S/S 2011 menswear collections, featuring sandy shades, desert tailoring, a new play on proportions that could be straight out of the Middle East, and, most importantly… skirts! Well, skirts and the like, tunics over shorts, short pant-skirts or shorts that look like skirts, long tops with nothing underneath, you name it, it’s been shown there… Old hands at gender-bending such as JPG and CDG showed full-on unmistakeable skirts, Comme going as far as showing a full one in a lovely skull pattern, others such as Tisci @ Givenchy went for a very simple straight wraparound or a sort of shirt-dress, Raf Simons expolred all sort of difficult proportions and gender-bending minimalism, and even YSL’s shorts look suspiciously like short balloon skirts to the untrained eye. All this tells us 2 things: 1: Milano is by now boring beyond description and should really reconsider whether or not to torture journalists with useless shows, 2: we better start working on those legs, now!

R.S.

It’s back to nature in a cool way for Alexis Mabille’s 2011 S/S collection, I just got the photos and really liked the collection, he seems to be getting better every time, I just love the “easy-breezy” feel to the show, with simple clean pieces and a few incredible suits, the “back to basics” mood of the season works incredibly well chez Mabille… Bravo!

R.S.

d’management, Tom’s agency in Milano, has a tribute to the greatly missed model on its main page (ok now that I think about it I would have put “human being” before “model”), while it seems that Success, his Paris agency hasn’t even taken his portfolio offline… His terrible demise amidst rumours of suicide over a break-up with his girlfriend has given a few so-called journalists an excuse to go backstage during Milan Fashion Week and ask other models dumb questions, all aiming at the “Fashion is Deadly and Lonely” angle, or write pieces citing the same phrase, while in  the last few days there seems to be an accident theory slowly emerging through the testimony of people who lived in his building…

Whatever the reason for his death it won’t change the simple fact that Tom Nicon should still be here, and that anybody who knew and loved him still can’t come to terms with the fact that he’s not.

R.S.

It’s Burberry, and I’m in love… I finally had the time to sit down and look at what I’d missed while shooting for Flaunt over the weekend… I couldn’t go see Burberry Prorsum and I’m sorry, even though I wouldn’t have been in the best mood or shape to see it (Tom always did the show and look-books for them), still by the looks of it the only shows I’d have really liked were scheduled on the days we were shooting… Oh well, at least I got to work with Dan and James (second and fourth picture from the top) and I can always look at the video on LiveBurberry.com… The reworking of some biker gear that the very forward-thinking Thomas Burberry did in the past is quite up my alley (the tumbled leather biker trench is a must…), and so are the skinny pants and rubber boots (not to mention the studs and chains)… I’ve never seen so much beige in my life, boys and girls, but if I can wear it with a studded leather jacket or vest I might even think about that horrible colour in a more positive way…

This season also saw the launch of Burberry Acoustic, a space for Burberry to help emerging British bands and get them to work with the brand, through videos and such, the first 3 videos are already up on the Burberry Live website…

To top all this you can buy a selection of the outerwear from the show for a few days on the Burberry e-commerce website… I’m obviously totally in love with the tumbled leather studded jacket, but at 4.200€ it’s a bit out of my league… still if you’re feeling very generous you can buy it for me till June 27 (by the way I’m a 46).

R.S.

pics: Riccardo Slavik

Richmond S/S 2011, rock’n'roll in a subtler shade than usual, some nice leather, a great red suit, a nice pair of shortish pants and great casting…

R.S.

Anche se in questi giorni ho il dente un po’ avvelenato, la Vivienne è sempre la Vivienne… ecco qua un assaggio (quello completo prossimamente su www.flamboyantmagazine.net/backstage) del backstage Vivienne Westwood Man S/S 2011… come mi ha scritto Giusy la fotografa (che infatti non compare mai…) nella mail di accompagnamento: “Per la serie ‘Giusy e le foto strane’, ovvero come essere top pur essendo dei flop o, nel caso specifico, dei flip-flops…”

F.L.M.B. a.k.a. GIUSY

pics: Riccardo Slavik a.k.a. GIUSY

pics: Riccardo Slavik

Our beloved Moschino goes Pop-Punk for next summer: a bit of studs, a bit of Lichtenstein, pierced jackets, vinyl records bits plus some short, flashy macs… my aristopunk favourite is the ’sensible’ stripy blazer with some well placed studs…

F.L.M.B.

unedited & very raw pics: Riccardo Slavik

pics: Riccardo Slavik

backstage and show at Fujiwara… Minimalism, summer leather, a slim conceptual silouhette… not always becoming, but certainly interesting…

R.S.