Milan: Scientific styles at Prada, Max Mara, Del Core

Science and fashion are not natural allies. The rigor of the first often clashing with the fantasy of the latter, but they somehow ignited each other in the last 24 hours in three notable Milan collections by Prada, Max Mara and Del Core.

Questioning how our world will change due to AI and algorithms was a key element in the latest Prada show, and judging by the astoundingly heterogeneous collection, its effect will be multiple and diverse.

It was hard to pick out any definable style in this collection, except perhaps that so many looks referenced Prada classics: like impeccable suede jackets; golfing hats; logo pump shoes. Yet the runway was crammed full of sure-fired hit clothes with attitude sure to find followers worldwide.

Even the set recalled the glory days of the 90s, when Miuccia Prada first took the world by storm – especially the reappearance of the house’s formerly ubiquitous pastel green.

“Basically, there is an incredibly amount of information collected on us all today. Everything you like is recorded by an algorithm. This is our proposal for an alternative,” explained Miuccia Prada, still, three decades after her first runway shows, Italy’s most influential designer.

“What we wanted was a show were every individual was their own individual,” added her design partner Raf Simons.

The result were scores of very, very different looks, albeit underpinned with a surprising whiff of fetish and an idea of industrial recycling – with scuffed cowboy boots and worn sweaters. Multiple looks were complete with S/M rings, chains and kiss rings sewn onto battered rawhide dresses, belts or otherwise demure skirts. Often in ensembles paired with just a conical bra. While hyper perforation was used to cut three-inch holes in golf hats, raffia caps and metallic skirts.

Though the highlights were the great pants with trompe l’oeil belts, following on from the menswear in June. Some great snappy three-quarters coats, and a brilliant black cock feather dress, paired with an orange windcheater – sure to stomp any algorithm.

A slickly produced display, briskly staged and a commercial and cool hit. And a nice way for the brand to bounce back, a day after the trolley track of the mainsail on its Luna Rossa cracked, forcing the yacht out of Wednesday’s race in the American’s Cup in Barcelona.

Ian Griffith’s starting point this season was Hipatia, the first female scientist of which there is documentary evidence of her work, whose studies in astronomy and mathematics suggested some of the forms in this collection.

Though she regarded the universe as geocentric – disproved by Galileo 12 centuries later – her commentaries on conical forms and hence the triangle had echoes in the darts on many looks.

Made all in mono-color in a deep palette of coffee, toffee, ecru and ivory this was a highly focused collection. Led by snug boleros and de-pocketed Eisenhowers; ribbed knit one-shoulder dresses; or blazers cut long with large flap pockets. Like Hipatia, the cast were serious ladies, wearing skirts that reached their ankles.

All recalling the “trigonometry” his mother employed when she made clothes at home when Ian was a boy.

“I seem to have required this reputation of being a little bit highbrow as a designer, but it all stems from watching television where I saw lessons in chemistry, which led me to thinking: what is it about science that people in creative fields are so prejudice against? Which led to the idea that science is imposing order on chaos, like fashion. That led me to my muse, Hipatia, whom I knew from the Rachel Weisz movie Agora of 2009. Which again I knew of from TV,” Griffiths mused post-show.

And though this was a spring/summer collection the highlight was a great pair of full-length coats in petrol blue. A reminder that when it comes to coats, Max Mara remains the holy grail.

That said, like the soundtrack – Alex Banks’ Uber Dem Vulcan Wolken – the clothes got a tad repetitive, even safe. There’s a reason maybe science and fashion are historically distant. One’s serious and the other is much more fun.

But the collection will surely face a happier fate than Hipatia, who was stoned to death with roof tiles by an angry mob in Alexandria in AD 415.

“Which often happened in those days to any woman who broke the line,” cautioned Ian, after creating a collection which would surely have pleased Hipatia, and quite a few scientists.

Karl Lagerfeld used to say that we all shop, but designers less than others. Case in point: Alessandro Del Core, the least derivative designer in Milan these days.

Del Core called this collection A Day At The Lab, and there was something of the mad scientist about the mood, but always one with a subtle vision. All the way to his memorable finale, where Naomi Campbell sashayed down the interior courtyard of an Art Liberty building in a beautifully structured white gown.

Experimenting with the opening looks, semi-sheer nylon gauze trench-coat, shorts or mannish shirts; a divine spy coat in white, precisely ironed leather or a series of uptown futurist almost translucent dresses ruffled perfectly halfway down the thigh. Many of his cast carried books, fashionable lecturers reading The Human Comedy or Pride and Prejudice. Held in their hands via long latex gloves.

Few creators in Italy drape with such a deft touch as Del Core whose bold plissé semi-sheer gowns were all pretty stunning. One also could not help noticing that though a fledgling house, every knowledgeable critic in town attended Del Core. Technically, this collection was prêt-a-porter, but its fit was so fine, and its finish so assured you could have shown it during Paris couture. The final compliment one can give Del Core, an excellent designer setting his own path with great polish.