The Bella figura

Prada and Dolce & Gabbana often rework familiar Italian themes and stereotypes in witty ways for international consumption, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN

'STYLE, THE BELLA FIGURA, the public presentation of self is so important to Italians. They may do without food or money just to dress well. You get dressed up on Sunday, you get dressed up for special occasions, you get dressed up for mass”.

Who better to define how Italians dress than Aisling Farinella, leading stylist and editor of Thread magazine who hails from a Sicilian family and who, despite living in Ireland, remains deeply embedded in her father’s culture.

We were discussing Italian fashion and the modernism of Miucca Prada and Marni and how designers like Dolce Gabbana rework familiar Italian themes and stereotypes in desirable and witty ways for international consumption. Prada has always stressed the importance of fashion’s power to communicate ideas and concepts and season after season produces collections that are original, surprising, often subverting conventional notions of fashion and beauty.

This winter, for example, her geometric prints, slim lines and rich glassy embroidery make a strong visual impact as does her combination of long sleeveless coats or dresses worn over pants. Her revival of the pants suit in offkey colour combinations and graphic prints was powerful and deliberate.

Pants suits in shiny or printed fabrics also figure in Miu Miu’s collection another surprise in a label better known for its dresses.

Even Prada’s winter menswear collection has a formal monochromatic severity and power highlighted in its campaign featuring actors Gary Oldman, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell and Garrett Hedlund.

Dolce Gabbana’s collections are equally strong, but with more overt sexuality. Their summer collection referenced Sophia Loren and that particular curvaceous Italian femininity of the 1950s whereas for winter the heavy black coats with gold embroideries, choir boy ruffles, lace dresses and sumptuous velvets not only celebrated craftsmanship, but also brought a sensuous Sicilian twist to ecclesiastical dress with all its richness and variety. The look, Stefano Gabbano, said, was “somewhere between princesses and virgins”.

Italian craftsmanship was also in the news recently with the initiative in Rome taken by Silvia Venturini Fendi to mark the 15th anniversary of its best-selling baguette bag in association with Italian Vogue. They offered a runway to up and coming young Italian fashion designers as a way of finding and highlighting new talent. A young couple in their 20s won the overall award with two shoe designers winning in accessories.

Shoes made in Italy by the Kinsale based designer Andreia Chaves were also on show in the four-day event which Fendi said was to help independence. “Milan does industrial fashion. We want things that last longer,” she said.

While Prada and Dolce Gabbana are the most widely copied on the high street, in watered down versions, other more affordable everyday Italian brands like Transit are popular in Ireland. Transit, based outside Venice, is a family weaving and knitwear company known for its casual wear in superb fabrics which they dye themselves.

Elsewhere, Cheap and Chic by Moschino is stocked by Arnotts which has just added two new diffusion brands M Missoni and Just Cavalli to its womenswear, both known for graphic design and kaleidoscopic colour. Cavalli’s snarling wolf print silk t-shirts may do a roaring trade, but Missoni’s more muted tones are tamer versions of their more dizzy zigzaggy styles.

Italians are proud of their brands most of which are family owned and have a heritage of craftsmanship like Gucci and Fendi. According to fashion photographer Perry Ogden who regularly works with Italian Vogue and La Republica’s D magazine, “When I think of Italian fashion I think of Antonioni and the beautiful Monica Vitti and Marcello Mastroanni and that style that came with Italian neo realism [in cinema]. Italians exude confidence and luxury, but not in a pretentious way — they are fearless and not too precious and they support their own brands. Their style feels quite classless, authentic and spontaneous – it’s in the blood.”