Fancy, fashion, Milan Fashion Week, Philipp Plein, Runways

Philipp Plein Spring/Summer 2016 Milan

You could just about see the gold-leafed tower of Fondazione Prada through the tangle of wrecked cars—including two Rolls-Royces—that littered the Porta Romana rail yard that was Philipp Plein’s show space this season. “Maybe one day there will be a Fondazione Plein,” he said backstage: “If I have so much money from my shareholders that I don’t know where to put it.”

Iconoclast or crass? That depends where you’re coming from. For sure, though, Plein has shouldered his way inside the gates of Milan fashion week through force of ambition and serial entrepreneurialism. His shoe business alone has gone from nothing to 60 million euros per annum in four years. But this season’s big-budget (2 million euros) production was the idea, he said, of his girlfriend.

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Face, Fancy, fashion, men's fashion, Milan Fashion Week, Versace

Versace Spring/Summer 2016 Milan

Donatella Versace paraded a lively collection brimming with the flavors of the desert. Tailored suits in plum, sand and olive were worn layered with long and fluttery printed shirts, while models strode down a sandy catwalk decked in flowing knotted silk headscarves. Versace spun those same printed silks into languid pajama-like suits and hooded bomber jackets fit for midnight lounging at the oasis.

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