The recently concluded London and Milan Fashion Week saw a showcase of art resemblances. Inspiration was drawn from various art movements, including the Bauhaus (Prada and Marni), Abstract Expressionism (Bottega Veneta, Salvatore Ferragamo and Sportmax), American hard-edge painting (Giorgio Armani) and Japanese manga comics (McQ Alexander McQueen).
Sportmax, which in its recent collections had sent out feminine silhouettes in restrained palettes on unique materials, this season opted for Jackson Pollock's splatter paintings as inspiration for the colorful numbers that closed the show.
Sarah Burton, McQ's creative director, enlisted popular manga artist Yoshiyasu Tamura to create a comic book strip print for the collection, resulting in a largely black-and-white palette, with splotches of bright orange and deep purple, recalling the neon lights of Tokyo's famous Shibuya district.
Meanwhile, Prada's coats and dresses had motifs from Joost Schmidt's poster for the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar. The green-and-blue closing gown of Giorgio Armani's show recalled Ellsworth Kelly's Meschers, and a particularly pliant, pleated, pastel striped dress that Tomas Maier sent down Bottega Veneta's runway was mesmerizing with its resemblance to Lee Krasner's Number 3 (Untitled).
Click on slideshow to see the best of Fall 2014 at the Milan Fashion Week.
