The shadow of Brexit loomed over London Fashion Week Men's, but there are other ghosts haunting other fashion capitals at the moment, including Rome, where Jeremy Scott showcased last night Moschino's A/W 19 menswear and Pre-Fall 19 women collections.
There's uncollected trash in the streets of the Eternal City; public transports run on random schedules that drive mad the locals and Fascism seems to be making a comeback not only on calendars for Mussolini's fans, but also in the hearts of too many residents with a rather casual knowledge of history. In the meantime, the Italian government seems to be hostage of the far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini who launched a clampdown on immigration as soon as he came in power and currently refuses to open ports to the ships carrying migrants left stranded for the last two weeks in the Mediterranean.
In a nutshell, holding a runway show in Rome wasn't maybe the best and most practical (especially considering that many people working in the industry headed to Florence for the Pitti events) options.
Moschino's show took place at Rome's Cinecittà Studios: while the models walking among dining tables in a reproduction of the Baths of Caracalla pointed at Fellini's "La dolce vita" and some of the influences scattered in the collection referenced the director's "Casanova" (already used by Scott in a previous Moschino collection), "Fellini's Satyricon" was the main inspiration (certainly not a new one, considering that it has already been used in the history of fashion) for the show.
Scott's designs were nothing new or original, but displayed his usual excesses and derivations: draped gowns and men's suits were often donned with cheap plastic Roman soldier armours turned into gladiator corsets; herringbone tweed jackets, trousers and coats, at times decorated with large satin bows in bright colours, were emblazoned with Latin words, while black suits were decorated with embellished silhouettes of skeletal bones, that evoked pictures of "catacomb saints" (a constant yet unacknowledged reference for a few fashion designers in the last few years...).
There were anachronisms and inconsistencies in the chandelier earrings accessorising feather dresses (a reference to the extragavances of "8 ½"?) at times matched with urban parkas, and in a white tutu complete with cummerbund (View this photo) styled with a biker jacket (View this photo; was that a new version of the evening gown-cum-tutu entitled "Ballerina?" from Franco Moschino's "Couture!" A/W 1992 collection inspired by Fellini? View this photo); and there were Versacesque echoes in the Baroque prints, while a red evening dress was supposed to be a reinvented version of the glamorous gowns donned by Anita Ekberg in "La dolce vita".
The super wigs were direct references to the women of Satyricon and evoked visions of Magali Noël as Fortunata in Fellini's film, while the mask of one model wasn't borrowed from the fetish world, but replicated the mask of actor Vernacchio in the film and the makeup of the Homeric singes at Trimalchio's dinner.
Some of the colours from the main palette, especially oranges, were taken from Fellini's movie: while working on it, the director decided to reference the textures and colours of fresco paintings, with striking yellows, oranges and aqua greens.
The collection wasn't the work of a genius (and Scott may have found more beautiful and original inspirations in Danilo Donati's pieces and accessories for this film, in which the costume designer reused very poor materials - his mosaic made with Charms candies entered the history of Italian costume and set design...), but the "Satyricon" reference was very apt for our times: Fellini's film was indeed a tale of exaggerations, it was a representation of his personal abstractions and a triumph of decorative excesses.
This series of episodes in the adventurous life of the protagonist Encolpio included sex orgies, a confrontation with the Minotaur, a sexual revitalisation ritual and Trimalchio's infamous banquet, a surreal tableau vivant. Sex, bloodshed and immorality went hand in hand in the film, enriched by the costumes created by Danilo Donati, those tunics in pastel or bright colours evoking frescoes, accessorised with flower crowns or elaborate hairstyles enriched with beautiful and elaborate golden jewellery.
Fellini's makeup consultant Piero Tosi stated about this film that its characters were supposed to be "walking mummies", they wore indeed masks that neutralised their human expressions and that alienated them.
Trimalchio remains a key character: gluttonous and cruel, this slave turned nouveau riche is so symbolical for our times, and almost ends up evoking the fast fame of today's vapid celebrities, famous for being famous, but lacking any real skills and talents.
For some critics "Satyricon" was a psychedelic interpretation of the classics, a sort of representation of the '60s made using antiquity. Yet there was more behind it: Fascism was mesmerised by imperial Rome, by the Romanità and the myth of Roman glories. Through his grotesque subjects who laugh when they see blood being spilled and enjoy atrocious spectacles, Fellini turned those Romans idolised by Fascism into butchers, eroding the fascist myth of Romans as warriors and exposing through their idiocy, the stupidity of Fascism.
Rich, baroque, decadent and artificial in its fantastic sets, the gory exoticism of "Satyricon" brings therefore a critical message with it that we could easily apply to our times (and that Scott sadly didn't grasp) or that we could re-read in a different way. We could indeed interpret Petronius' novel as a representation of the modern fashion scene, a useless tale of excesses and decadence (with Trimalchio as social media icon - famous and revered, but essentially vapid and illiterate...).
When the film was released Italian writer Alberto Moravia stated that Fellini was "a decadent who is magnetised by the most celebrated and most historic of all decadences." You bet Fellini would have made a fine film about the demise of the fashion industry (or about fashion as a new form of Fascism...) if he had been alive.
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