Vogue Editors Share Highlights From Milan Fashion Week

Nicole Phelps and Luke Leitch have touched down in Paris and are eager to attend the many shows that comprise fashion week in the City of Light. But before they check out shows from the likes of Julie Kegels, Matières Fécales, Rick Owens, or the latest collaboration between John Galliano and Zara, the pair of reviewers sat down to talk about the highlights and critical moments that emerged during Milan Fashion Week. 

They started by talking about the Diesel show, which ended Glenn Martens six year run at the brand, before he devotes himself fully to Maison Margiela. “Martens has always been very inclusive, very sex positive,” Luke observed, “it’s quite punk.” The sex positive energy at the show manifested in a young couple making out at the show. “I really felt my age and like a slightly disapproving old dowager,” he laughed. 

There was the Prada collection devoted exclusively to the skirt as a central garment. Mrs. Prada has given several interviews (including on our very podcast) about seeing the skirt as similar to a tee in its capacity to be a canvas for expression. The skirts were paired with these barely there bras, possibly as a styling point against the skirt to accentuate it all the more. 

Luke wrote about the Emporio Armani presentation (not a runway show), which was the last to be overseen by Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani before Dario Vitale helms the brand. The show was about time. Luke at first interpreted this with some heaviness, but it became clear that the intent was about the accrual that time allows and the layers that are added in an innovative interregnum moment. “There was the addition and the encrustation of salt crystals on garments and bags, which is not something I'd wanna wear in this Parisian rain because I'd be melting,” Luke noted, but it was beautiful nonetheless. 

Nicole and Luke were both “Sanderistas”—great fans of Simone Belloti’s Jil Sander collection. Maria Grazia Chiuri's second ready-to-wear collection for Fendi also made a splash. “She didn’t make it very easy for us to see the collection,” Nicole commented, which arguably is a metaphor for fashion at large. Meryll Rogge’s Marni has been finding her footing and community. “You can really feel—call them Gen Z, call them what you will—but young people coalescing around her,” Nicole said, “the way she's collaging references and whipping them all together in her own way really speaks to how people who are 30 or so, are looking at the '90s or th