Mila Schön Menswear S/S 2010

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Mila Schön’s fashion house was among the most famous in Italy in the 60s.

The late designer received many awards for her work, among them also the Neiman Marcus Award for her use of colour.

The brand was well known in Asia and it’s recovering its popularity in markets such as Japan.

In the meantime the fashion house archive is expanding every year and new designs by current creative director Bianca Gervasio are constantly added to it.

The Italian Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Environmental Conservation) recently proposed the maison to include its archive into a list of Italian cultural assets (so far the same proposal was made to Salvatore Ferragamo, Roberto Capucci and Gianfranco Ferré’s archives).

The fashion house is at present trying to find some of its lost designs for its archive while hoping to involve contemporary artists, designers and photographers, into specific future projects to restore the strong cultural connection the brand had with the fine art world.

Among the future projects there is also another exhibition after the successes of last year’s event that took place at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, a few weeks after Mila Schön died.

A newly released book, M as Mila, published by Electa Mondadori and written by Patrizia Gatti celebrates the 50th anniversary of the fashion house.

The book opens with a chapter on the creation of Mila Schön’s atelier in the post-war years, follows the maison’s debut at Pitti’s Sala Bianca in Florence in 1965 and chronicles its successes such as the first ready-to-wear and menswear lines in the 70s and its first catwalk shows in Milan and Paris.

A final chapter analyses the latest developments focusing on the different designers who worked for the maison up to the current creative director, Bianca Gervasio.

One of the most interesting chapters explored in the book is about the friendship between photographer Ugo Mulas and Mila Schön.

The chapter also analyses the designer’s references to the world of art through dresses inspired by Gustav Klimt and the Bauhaus, Lucio Fontana, Alexander Calder and Kenneth Noland.

“I guess the core readership for this book will undoubtedly be formed by fashion professionals, yet the book is dedicated to fashion fans and design students as well. I’m sure fashion experts and people with a visual imagination will not only be inspired by the beautiful pictures they will discover while leafing through the book, but also by more specific elements such as melon-shaped seams and other tailoring details that ordinary readers may not find interesting nor important,” Patrizia Gatti recently told me about the book. You can read more about the book in my interview with the author for Dazed Digital.

Apart from celebrating the successes of Mila Schön, M as Mila also marks the arrival of a new menswear line, the first one designed by Bianca Gervasio, characterised by clean and geometrical forms and bright and bold colours.

Gervasio’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection for Mila Schön was presented in June during Florence’s Pitti Immagine with an installation that featured six wardrobe-like Plexiglass trunks in which waistcoats, trousers, shoes, sneakers and small accessories such as driving gloves, belts and bags, were showcased.

While leather was the material of choice for modern and dynamic outerwear, bright colours characterised other items such as waistcoats, shirts, ties, socks and shoes.

The coloured Chevron-like graphic effects inspired by the maison’s archives and geometric intarsia motifs in royal blue/cream/bright red and yellow ochre used for the waistcoats actually called back to mind Giacomo Balla’s futuristic waistcoats.

The collection was accompanied by a dance performance entitled “Primo Toccare”, literally "First Touches", a reference to the tactile emotions that touching an item of clothing or an accessory can transmit.

The show, choreographed by Matteo Levaggi, featured two models clad in Mila Schön’s designs and dancers from the Corpicrudi group and was co-produced by the Balletto Teatro di Torino and the Biennale de la Damse de Lyon and Torino Danza’s artistic director Loredana Furno.

You can see a video of the show at the end of this post (This is a 5-minute preview of a longer video, so you will have to install Veoh Video Compass to watch the full video in your browser or download it to your PC.)

What follows is a brief Q&A with Bianca Gervasio about her S/S 2010 menswear collection for Mila Schön.

Question: What inspired you the menswear collection?
Bianca Gervasio: I designed the menswear collection following the same principles and rules for the womenswear collections, that is clean and sober lines, precise geometries and intarsia. Through the intarsia technique I actually added a little bit of irony to each single piece. The menswear line includes some pieces that can be easily matched and luxurious yet casual items such as silk trench coats. The collection also features shirts with printed motifs that can be matched with ties or socks with the same motifs, perfect accessories for a man who wants to add a little irony to his wardrobe. I sort of summarised the main principles behind the collection – geometries, irony, colours and intarsia – in one piece, the waistcoat, that can be worn over a pair of denim trousers or with a classically tailored pair of trousers.

Question: How would you define this collection?
Bianca Gervasio: I would define this collection as urbanely chic and elegant. Indeed while the collection is aimed at a young and casual man, it is actually designed following the main tailoring and craftsmanship principles, moving from Mila Schön’s DNA, from elements such as double-faced fabrics.

Question: This is your first menswear line for Mila Schön, did you enjoy designing it?
Bianca Gervasio: Yes I did, it was a very enjoyable experience in fact. I actually think that menswear offers more chances and possibilities than womenswear since many things have already been tried for what regards designs for women. Though there are some great competitors out there when it comes to menswear, I think there is still a lot to do about men's clothes and accessories.