Italian Fashion Watch

Moschino Hotel

Moschino is the latest fashion house to open its own hotel. It is called Maison Moschino and was unveiled recently in Rimini at the 45th TTG Incontri tourism trade show and will open for the public next year.

The design team was lead by Rosella Jardini who made sure to give the new hotel the same feel that the fashion house managed to create over the years with its incredible collections.

The hotel is located near the neoclassical Viale Monte Grappa rail station and the building consists of four floors, 54 rooms and 15 suites, along with a bar, restaurantm, gym, and spa.

A Missoni spokesperson explained that “the common thread connecting the rooms is a fairy tale theme because to sleep is perchance to dream, and dreams are fairy tales that we are allowed to experience first hand, the fables of a fantasy world that we have created. This is an alternate life in which we direct and stage the scripts of our very own play. The hotel interior reflects Moschino’s distinctive style, where the ordinary world is painted with a brush of surrealism.”

Moschino

A front row filled with stuffed animals, an invitation made from a napkin tied around a set of silverware, and an open delivery truck with runway models flowing out of the back are just a few examples of how the Moschino brand continues to harness humor in the name of fashion.

For the past 25 years, the company has prospered with a foundation of irreverence, fun and a surrealist frivolity that runs counter to the way slick, big-business fashion functions today. And its creative director, Rossella Jardini, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The glossy, glamorous and cool world of fashion have never particularly fascinated me: I adore fashion and many of its representatives not for those aspects but for the creativity, the research and the effort that remains behind every collection,” said the designer.

Jardini – who started working alongside the company’s founder, Franco Moschino, in 1981 and took over designing the brand after his death in 1994 – has long kept a low profile, letting the sunny brand image and the colorful clothing speak for themselves. But in the new fashion world order, where designers are almost as famous as the brands they work for, Jardini has started to step into the spotlight in hopes of giving a face to a brand.

A slim woman who often dresses in large sweaters and easy trousers worn with big jewelry and thick dark-framed glasses, she offered frank responses to questions about her approach.

“I don’t design the collection in my head,” she said in a recent interview, speaking in a mix of Italian, French and broken English. “I have a team that helps with that. For me it is all about the choice of fabrics and the mixing of textiles. That is always my starting point when I put together a collection.”

Picking up on the easygoing elegance offered by Italian designers this round, Moschino, known for its fashion sense of humour, served up an over-the-top collection for next summer.

With its typically ironic fashion wand, Moschino turns roses into skirts and cropped jackets, uses ruffles on a trench coat, and decorates classic stoles with super sweet bows.

Just when you get the joke, Moschino gets serious, offering a series of perfectly styled couture outfits highlighted by giant bags. Straying from the current use of classic prints and muted earth shades, Moschino paints its collection in bright pink and purple.

Valentino and Giorgio Armani are accustomed to seeing the world’s highest profile men step out in their beautifully tailored suits. But the pair were showcasing a rather different approach to the wardrobe staple during their collections for spring/summer 2008 Milan Fashion Week.

Valentino added a colonial flavour to his show which, with its sports jackets in luxurious fabrics, emphasised the classic elegance the 45-year-old label is renowned for. Armani, on the other hand, deconstructed the jacket to have it serve like a shirt, worn over a bare torso and waistcoat. Adding another take on the suit for next spring/summer was British designer John Richmond, whose collection married English dandy with Sicilian bandit.

Sportswear was a big focus for many of the designers, including Alexander McQueen. The Londoner had taken inspiration from surfer dudes, presenting fluorescent lycra leggings, hippie style T-shirts, Sixties slogan prints, and Bermuda shorts. The surfer look was echoed at Burberry where dropped-crotch trousers imitated the silhouette of surfers easing themselves out of a wet suit.

Motor racing, however, was the theme at Dsquared2 where buff models donned pit-style overalls and Formula One patches adorned denim jeans and leather jackets.

Less was clearly more when it came to beachwear at Dolce & Gabbana, with the Dutch design duo showing uber-minimalist swimming trunks. The glamorous label also gave a young urban take on contemporary menswear though linen shirts and scrunched up combats.

While many of the catwalks kept to a typical summer palette of creams, light greys and pastels, the Moschino runway was a riot of colour, reflecting the designer’s homage to the Eighties. Brightly hued trench coats in sizzling orange mingled with white trousers and pink sock combos topped with fluorescent hats.