Prada and Gucci: Fall 2016

At the Milan men's shows, on January 15 to 19, two of the biggest names in Italian fashion, Prada and Gucci, presented their Fall 2016 collections, and their statements couldn't have been more different. Both offered up a bit of fantasy, in the sense that these are still luxury brands that thrive on creating worlds their customers will want to buy into. But while Prada's version was all about contending with the real world, Gucci's felt like a retreat from it, into a hermetic bubble.

At Prada, Miuccia Prada offered up a presentation that's widely being praised as her best men's show in years. The clothes, which offered numerous smart, wearable pieces, came layered with ideas. There were nautical overtones in the sailor hats and handsome peacoats, but also a sense of distress evoked by dangling shirt cuffs, wholly detached coat collars, and fabrics that were washed and patched as if from wear and travel. The subtle suggestion was of migration and turmoil, from which it wasn't hard to leap to thoughts of the refugee crisis in Europe. The famously intelligent Prada, who has a PhD in political science, would never be so obtuse as to make that the main backdrop for a show of expensive clothes. But it was evident she was reflecting on current events.

At Gucci, on the other hand, creative director Alessandro Michele continues to present clothes hinting he'd like nothing more than to hide in the attic of the world's richest, most eccentric grandparents and play dress up in their stuff. The fabrics were sumptuous, often elaborately patterned or embroidered, and arranged haphazardly into whimsical outfits. As this becomes his signature, the clothes didn't pay much attention to sartorial norms about gender identity, and the colors and cuts were overtly '70s. "The most important thing is the way you let the people dream about something," Michele told the Financial Times backstage before the show. "Not what is real, what is fake, I mean fashion is all fake."

Creativity can come from different sources, and what will ultimately keep either brand alive is sales. Prada has struggled recently, while Gucci appears to be entering an upswing thanks to Michele's idiosyncratic vision. In Milan, neither Prada's nor Michele's approach was inherently superior, though in this instance Prada's show reached higher and achieved more.