Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
MILAN, Italy — So far, Marcelo Burlon, the polymath behind the County of Milan phenomenon, has not exactly been taken seriously as a designer. After all, he did not train as one. His fashionable path started with a bunch of t-shirts and soon evolved into reconfigured urbanwear. Well, consider this to be the past.
Heralded by the rather menacing slogan "New Renaissance after a Cultural Armageddon" (splashed as print here and there) the new County of Milan collection marked a turning point, with a decisive switch towards fashion. Silhouettes were layered and sculptural, with functional details adding a pragmatic yet abstract twist to seriously oversized volumes. The press notes announced a posse of post apocalyptic gauchos. And a posse it was: sombrely elegant but not at all apocalyptic. There was probably too much of Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto in the air, and the show would have benefited from a vigorous editing, but it was a convincing move towards bright new territories.
