Some of the Pre-Fall shows we looked at last year, took place in unique locations, including the Temple of Dendur at the Met Museum (Chanel) and Tokyo (Valentino).
Yet, though entertaining, the fashion circus can be exhausting for those who follow it to report from it, while it is extremely expensive for the companies, brands and fashion houses involved.
The current menswear shows are also definitely proving that designers' enthusiasm is waning when it comes to separate shows, and, while mixed men and women's runways are the option for many, others have been opting for coherent presentations.
Now Pre-Fall collections aren't usually showcased via runways, but lookbooks can be boring to look at if they are not accompanied by personal appointments that allow you to look at the actual clothes.
That said for the next Pre-Fall 19 season there were some exceptions, among them Antonio Marras' lookbook. The latter doesn't feature any special locations or famous celebrities, but two young women, maybe reminiscent at times of the protagonists of Elena Ferrante's L'amica geniale.
The story told by the lookbook with the girls leafing through books (Zanichelli Dictionaries by Marras?) or posing with interior design vintage pieces, is secondary to the clothes and accessories, though, that remain the main focus.
The lookbook images offered indeed the possibility of going through a coherent wardrobe that featured a lot of possibilities, including sensible grey pinstriped suits with a mannish cut, blue skirt suits with a school uniform-like flair about them and jackets and peacoats with colourful inserts of fabric.
The knitwear offer was also ample with comfy cardigans at times characterised by playful elements and threads in contrasting colours to give the impression the garments were old and mended, as if they were a kintsugi vase (the artisanal approach is definitely not missing in this collection).
There were graphic frocks in checkered or floral patterns and romantic see-through lace dresses enriched with metallic effects for those wearers to want to dare, and more modest ones that can be paired with matching trousers for a shy consumer still looking for something quirky and original.
Shoes were sturdy and bags came in all shapes and sizes and were often characterised by geometrical motifs that may have been borrowed from traditional Sardinian rugs.
In a nutshell it was Marras, but in a controlled and restrained way, edited and well-crafted to offer the proverbial something for everybody, with plenty of separates to combine and remix for day, evening and night, and designs you may want to invest in since they look timeless rather than trendy. In the '80s when Italian fashion was about selling clothes and accessories, this sort of no-nonsense approach was favoured by the industry.
Nicolas Ghesquière also opted for a focused lookbook for his Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall collection, with one main difference, his 17 models (shot by Collier Schorr) were all stars, often from Oscar-winning movies or popular TV shows, and included Kelela, Alicia Vikander, Jennifer Connelly, Ruth Negga, Laura Harrier, Indya Moore and Urassaya Sperbund.
The collection and the casting were absolutely eclectic, but at times the stars and their names overshadowed the clothes and accessories. The latter represented Ghesquière's futuristic codes with a touch of country added (for that "Westworld" dichotomy...), a semantic he has been developing for a while at Louis Vuitton.
Yet, while the floral sheaths and pants, lace dresses, plaid blanket jackets, tartan print vests with leopard-print cycling shorts and capelet blouses (the whole obviously accessorised with the brand's Monogram bags) may be trendy, this lookbook is more about the story of the stars involved and about how they wear the clothes (yes, we know, they look unbearably cool...) than about the designs pictured. So could lookbooks be the runways of the future? Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully. But make them no-nonsense if they are meant to sell clothes to real people.
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