Milan (AFP)

Dsquared2, the brand of Canadian twins Dean and Dann Catten, and the Italian house Ermenegildo Zegna kicked off Friday evening "Milan fashion week" for men which presents an extended calendar thanks to the return of several labels.

Milan Fashion Week, which takes over from London, will end on Tuesday noon with the heavyweight Gucci, before handing over to Paris.

Dsquared2, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, presented a collection reviving its DNA: leather and denim.

The models looked like cowboys and cowgirls, with their plaid shirts, jeans or leather pants embellished with some long fringes. The Dsquared2 woman also wears mini-shorts or ultra-short corseted dresses, with pumps and mini-stockings rising to the knees.

To the tunes of "We are family", sung by three of the Sister Sledge, a photo retrospective paid tribute to the work of the Catten brothers, whose style has won over a number of stars, from Ronaldo to Beyoncé.

The fashionistas then joined an industrial building where Ermenegildo Zegna presented an elegant collection, in a functional "sartorial" spirit.

The models paraded in the middle of thousands of ribbons from scrap Zegna fabrics, an installation by artist Anne Patterson demonstrating the brand's commitment to more sustainable development.

"50% of this collection is made from recycled fabrics," Zegna's artistic director Alessandro Sartori explained to AFP.

During this Fashion Week, 77 collections for the fall-winter 2020-2021 will be presented in the official calendar, including 26 via fashion shows, compared to 52 in January 2018 (27 fashion shows).

Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and N ° 21, who for several seasons had opted for mixed parades during Women's Week, decided to organize separate parades again and to return to the men's calendar.

Instead of ending on Monday evening, Milan will extend the festivities until Tuesday noon.

The Camera della moda (Italian Fashion Chamber) had "struggled in recent years" to mobilize brands and restore Fashion Week to its original duration, lost since June 2017, said its president Carlo Capasa.

- British invasion -

"The separate fashion shows and the longer week bear witness to the fact that the world of men's clothing and accessories is growing", analyzed for AFP Stefania Saviolo, director of the fashion center at Bocconi University In Milan.

Consequence: "it needs more visibility", she notes, referring to a sector marked by many innovations, the emergence and development of new brands, against a background of "strong contamination between formal clothing (which is declining) and informal ", with forays into street wear, sportswear, the fashion of down jackets, sneakers and technical clothing.

According to Euromonitor International, the global turnover for men's fashion increased by 4.5% in 2019, slightly more than women's fashion (+ 4.3%). Men's luxury ready-to-wear alone increased 3.4%.

Among the other heavyweights present during this Fashion Week, we can cite Armani, Dolce & Gabbana (who parades as usual outside the calendar), Fendi and Prada, who returns after a stopover in Shanghai.

Also on the calendar again: MSGM, which had paraded in Florence in June, or Iceberg, after three seasons in London.

Against the trend, Versace will however be absent, having opted for a mixed fashion show in February during Women's Week.

Among the novelties of this season: a collaboration with the British Fashion Council (BFC).

"Part of London Fashion Week is coming to Milan," said Capasa, referring to a "very innovative" initiative that shows "Milan's attractiveness right now".

"It is also a message that we are sending in the middle of Brexit: we, as fashion companies, want our countries to continue to collaborate," he said.

Part of the program is the "London Show Rooms", with emerging British and Italian designers, and a parade of A-Cold-Wall, brand of the English designer Samuel Ross.

© 2020 AFP