Meryl Streep v Armani: Who won Milan Fashion Week

It usually takes Nicole Kidman or her daughter on the runway, or Kylie Jenner wearing a lion’s head for the Country Road-wearing public to realise that fashion week is taking place. This year at Milan Fashion Week, Dolce & Gabbana found that a 76-year-old Oscar winner in a wig is equally effective.

When Streep walked into the Dolce & Gabbana show in character as Miranda Priestly for the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, flanked by Stanley Tucci and seated opposite Vogue boss Anna Wintour, the world paid attention.

Despite Streep and Tucci being decked out in top-to-toe Dolce & Gabbana, the collection barely related a mention. Classic pyjama pieces and boudoir nightdresses couldn’t compete with the front row.

As for the collections that made a mark in Milan? There were many. Perhaps if Miranda Priestly had attended these shows, the fabled Runway magazine wouldn’t be rumoured to be in trouble (well that’s what plot leaks are suggesting).

Versace

Many of the same social media snipers who slavishly reposted images of Streep and Tucci on social media misguidedly took aim at Dario Vitale’s debut collection as creative director of Versace.

Clinging chartreuse jersey dresses, muscle T-shirts made for Miami hustlers and embellished bra-tops were a definitive break from former creative director Donatella Versace’s rigid commitment to glamour.

The collection felt youthful and pleasingly rumpled like bedsheets on a Sunday morning. Vitale referenced many of founder Gianni Versace’s collections from the eighties, a decade before he was murdered in 1997.

Expect the pieces to acquire the same desirability as the boxer shorts and tank tops Vitale created while design director at Miu Miu.

Bottega Veneta

This season, there are 15 designer debuts, with Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta even more hotly anticipated than Vitale at Versace (the hottest ticket is former Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy at Chanel in Paris). The attention on Trotter is partly because of the respect she earned as creative director at Lacoste and Carven, and partly because she is the only woman in the cabal of newbies.

With its expensive interwoven leather pieces, Bottega Veneta sits towards the peak of luxury and Trotter is on her way to the top, with oversized coats in butter-soft and coloured leather alongside fluffy tops and dresses made from recycled fibreglass that combine the joy of The Muppets with the forbidden elegance of fur.

While Versace was for the cool kids, this was for cashed-up parents, who prefer quiet luxury with the occasional stifled giggle.

Giorgio Armani

Milan Fashion Week came to an end with the sombre fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Giorgio Armani label, which the founder missed out on by a matter of weeks, dying on September 4.

Like Dolce & Gabbana, this was an occasion where the front row, with Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere, was more captivating than the runway.

Here was Armani’s familiar brand of glamour, with deconstructed suiting and languid dresses in beige, greys and jarring bursts of purple, now awaiting new life.

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