Sport Allure

vogue italia june 2012

The past image of the woman athlete, a stereotype built on muscles and virility has evolved into a series of female champions who are as skilled as they are striking.

Nowadays the figure of a sportswoman and that of a celebrity co-exist without a strain: being in shape is fashionable, and sport is the best medium for a person to attain a healthy beauty, as recognized by the fashion industry.

 "Sport has influenced not only the production of garments that are functional for physical activity, both competitive and none", says Maria Canella, "but also and above all the definition of lines, fabrics and combinations that characterize a style that is more and more widespread with regard to sporty clothing, however used in urban contexts or as casual wear, therefore beyond the training context".

  And comfort has become a must in sportswear. The various collaborations that have seen and still see the big names of fashion trying their hand at sportswear is a proof of this. Several opt for co-branding, such as Puma with Hussein Chalayan. Others take part in various events, some at the Olympic Games in London, and perhaps get their hands on creating the outfits for the athletes competing. This is the case of Emporio Armani, who dressed the Italian team both for the competitive and formal occasions.

reference: Rosario Morabito, Vogue Italia, June 2012, n. 742, p.144

Megalopolis She-Warriors

Eye popping lights, excited megalopolis to walk through like she-warriors dressed up in a provocative and cinematic period, with a desire for the unreal.

Blue Chanel

A metallic-hued pilgrim, luminescent, as envisioned by Chanel, in a blue also proposed – or better unsaddled – by Ann Demeulemeester’s cuts. Much digitalized like a screen concealing the secrets of a hacker, the blue haunted by thin stripes for a sportswear-style suit with jacket by Peter Pilotto.

Mary Katrantzou
 labyrinth-like print

Over-enhaced shoulders, shown at Fendi, like the power style of the Eighties, mixed in with the 40's elegance, like the long number by Mary Katrantzou, on which a labyrinth-like print complicate the already complicated retro-futuristic path of the new urban Avatars. A reinforced glamour, highly structured, with revisited and exaggerated neckline, shoulders, waist and hips, or otherwise fluid yet metallic, like in the tulle and pleats and obi-style dresses by Fendi, showing a liquid modernity.

10 years later, in 2007. Viktor&Rolf cage their models inside a device that make them glide,put into cages, with garments suspended just like their pace. Like Birds of Paradise of tomorrow, the women clad in Moncler Gamme Rouge and presented like living artwork – caged in showcases - at the Royal Palace, in Paris in February 2007.

Thierry Mugler's
"Les Insectes"

Thierry Mugler more than anyone else  exaggerates the already sexual aggressive mood of the Eighties and becomes iconic. Especially with the dress in tulle and patent leather, a boudoir-style corset including garter belts and long sleeves and gloves, with bare skin only on the thighs, between stockings and a corset. Or, back to the idea of the Bird of Paradise, his “Papillon” dress, plumage that explodes on the bare back with colored feathers, opened up forming a wide wing: summer 1997 Haute Couture, “Les Insectes” collection.

In collaboration with Swarovski,Hussein Chalayan, celebrates the 111 years of activity of the fashion house with a sequence of dresses that open up like flowers, thanks to mechanical internal devices, and also to summer 2008.