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In Milan, the potent glow of red lights saturated Sportmax’s Fall/Winter 2024 show. Beginning from a poignant image of Nico’s sixth and final album, Camera Obscura, an undefinable magnetism fuelled a fresh vision for the collection. As poet and assistant to Andy Warhol Gerarld Malange described the record’s cover art, “Nico’s eyes seem to guard a great mystery which, hidden in aloofness, they do not want anyone to know exists.”
This femme fatale energy that characterised the heroines of the ’80s redefined sensuality with a rebellious spirit. Inspired by this subversion, long-serving director Grazia Malagoli celebrated icons like Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Annie Lennox and Siouxsie Sioux with prints inspired by album covers, adorning shirts, dresses, jackets and knits.
In a Blade Runner-esque style, Fall/Winter 2024 looked to the past to realise a futuristic vision. With elongated silhouettes, sculpted shoulders, waists cinched by fabric belts and contrasting textures, the result held an undeniable power.
The body was thoroughly emphasised throughout. Bustier-style dresses and jackets take their cue from the art of corsetry, with sophisticated geometric cuts, bubbled padding and crinolines. A refined colour palette of black, grey mélange and navy blue, with dashes of red, royal blue, white and nude, imbued a grungey sophistication. At the same time, oversized pleats, lurex fringing, patent finishes and PVC details upped the ante. Itty bitty leather tries nodding to old Western styles showed up throughout in various tones and are no doubt already being replicated.
Luxurious tailoring and knitwear—fixtures of the Italian fashion house—were naturally highlights from the collection, balancing the dichotomy of the masculine and feminine through exaggerated shapes and unexpected treatments. Merging an alternative athleisure look, party-ready boxing shorts in technical fabric or black leather with matching shirts put a sporty spin on bottoms—these women are fighters.
