The dim-lit industrial space in eastern Milan where Sportmax’s spring show was held featured a white square-tiled catwalk, on which a glass cabinet filled with evidently fake tropical plants and flowers was perched.
The installation suggested that the design team had transported guests to some futuristic science lab, where almost all looks came in variations of clinical white.
A reflection on “the very core of what ‘natural’ vs ‘cultural’ means in a world that struggles with reconciling both realms or keeping them in perfect equilibrium,” as the show notes put it, the collection had a decidedly minimalist slant, exuding a retrofuturistic vibe seen through a ‘90s lens.
Wearing bubble-heeled sandals and flats, holding sculptural bags reminiscent of sleek space shuttles, were these goggle-wearing women scientists, avant garde art dealers or priestesses of a scientific faith?
Hard to tell. Certainly they looked terrific in their architectural garb, not necessarily flattering but alluring.
There was a brutalist quality to the razor-sharp crisp coated linen dresses cut just above the ankle and worked on the bias. They featured oversize stand-up collars, a recurring element throughout the collection, seen also on the glossy peach pink satin peacoat-cum-frock that looked like paper sheets were wrapped around the model’s body.
The high-tech fabrications contributed to the captivatingly dystopian bent of the collection with the closing padded skirt featuring an apron-like overskirt and a ladylike shirt and pencil skirt ensemble crafted from see-through shiny organza.
The sci-fi whiff was juxtaposed by the organic feel of gauze-like distressed and frayed knit strapless frocks dotted with floral appliqués and fishnet flapper dresses made of pearl strings, as well as the occasional prints of electronic devices from which protruded floral stems. These were borrowed from the “Postnaturalia” installation by Krištof Kintera, the Czech artist behind the catwalk’s centerpiece.
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