Milan (AFP)

The Italian houses Missoni and Fendi opened the Milan Fashion Week ball on Wednesday, which will alternate for six days physical parades in small handpicked committees and virtual shows, pandemic obliges.

After Missoni, who kicked off the festivities with a video broadcast online, the Roman label later took over with a physical parade.

For this Spring-Summer 2021 Women's and Men's collection, Silvia Venturini Fendi has chosen to pay tribute to family and home, in an intimate living room atmosphere, bordered by large virtual windows revealing an imaginary nature.

The hundred or so guests, duly distanced, had taken their places on imposing wavy sofas.

Male and female models, of all ages and faces, presented a wardrobe with structured shapes, while being romanticized by the materials: linen, cotton, feathers, fur or quilted.

The dresses are fitted or transparent, veiled but embellished with a small strict collar.

The embroidery is very present, floral or more geometric, like so many details from another time, reminiscent of memories of doilies or linens, of clothes that have passed through generations.

The sartorial pants and jackets are wide;

the flared, slit or unbuttoned sleeves dialogue here with the espadrilles on the feet, there with large knee socks worn with slippers.

Reminiscences of this "homewear", these indoor outfits, stars of confinement who are experiencing a big comeback.

"This collection is my expression of the house, of the family and of all the things that are close to our hearts - values ​​passed down from generation to generation like precious linen", explained Silvia Venturini Fendi in her cover letter.

She herself embodies the third generation at the helm of the house founded by her grandparents in 1925.

Like Fendi, 21 other houses have bet on the presence of an audience during this Milan Fashion Week, which took over from New York and London.

- "Brain teaser" -

These parades are a real challenge due to the physical distancing rules imposed by the pandemic and last minute changes such as these coronavirus tests made mandatory for all travelers arriving from Paris to Italy.

It is "a real puzzle", we confess behind the scenes of a big fashion house.

"The number of seats has been drastically reduced and the + seating + (the allocation of seats to journalists," influencers "and buyers), which is already in normal times a real diplomatic and political + tetris +, is making us tear our hair out. We don't want to offend anyone but we don't have enough room for everyone ".

Certainly, the Chinese, Koreans or Americans, banned from traveling to Europe, will free up strategic places.

But their absence also marks the continuation of the sector's crisis, despite clear signs of recovery in China in recent months.

Italian fashion revenue fell 30% in the first half of 2020, with a sharp contraction in the second quarter.

For the "happy few" attending the shows, the ritual includes thermoscanneur, hand washing and mask.

Enough to make the selfie in front of the podium less sexy than usual.

Houses are keeping their fingers crossed so that the relatively controlled circulation of the virus in Italy does not get carried away (the country has around 1,500 new cases per day, well below France for example), so as not to be forced to change strategy at the last moment, as was the case in February with the decision of Giorgio Armani to march behind closed doors.

This Fashion week is also intended to reflect the major themes that have marked the news in recent months.

She will organize, with the collective Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion, the presentation of collections of five black designers under the title "We are Italy".

In solidarity with the population of Beirut, bruised by the explosion at the beginning of August, it will put the spotlight on young Lebanese designers, such as Azzi & Osta.

© 2020 AFP