Milan Fashion Week: Less is more at Prada, Arbesser keeps it personal

SUMMARY

Sustainability is coming into even sharper focus at Milan Fashion Week. The industry is seeking to show its mettle in big and small ways after 32 leading fashion companies signed off on a set of shared goals presented to the leaders of Group of 7 industrial nations.Here are highlights from Wednesday's shows launching Milan Fashion Week of mostly womenswear previews for spring/summer 2020:

By APSept 19, 2019 12:32:51 PM IST (Published)

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week, in Milan, Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Sustainability is coming into even sharper focus at Milan Fashion Week. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

The industry is seeking to show its mettle in big and small ways after 32 leading fashion companies signed off on a set of shared goals presented to the leaders of Group of 7 industrial nations. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

That can mean experimental textiles and ecological materials, or editing a collection down to its purest form, getting rid of excesses. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Hitting a balance is a challenge for designers, facing the demand for constant novelty while trying to maintain a socially responsible profile. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Gigi Hadid wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week, in Milan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Already essential, Muccia Prada is trying a less-is-more aesthetic, also in support of a sustainable agenda. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The Prada collection featured a mix of basics with staying power — simple suits, knit skirts and top combos — alongside more adorned pieces like beaded overcoats that can become heirlooms. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week. Prada said the idea she was trying to convey was that the person wearing the garments "is more important than the fashion." (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The sometimes austere looks at times summoned images or elements of puritans, nuns, and schoolmarms — all with a subversive fashion edge. Textiles formed the leitmotiv of the collection: heavy male wools, rough silk and muslin. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The looks were finished with floppy rain hats — often in gold or silver lame — and flat or heeled loafers and sandals. Shell jewellery had a do-it-yourself feel, as did rattan and bucket bags, with nautical knots forming the handles. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week, in Milan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model has makeup applied backstage prior to the N. 21 Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week, in Milan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the N. 21 Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Alessandro Dell'Acqua presented a co-ed No. 21 collection for the first time, blurring gender lines with an interplay of florals that created surprisingly androgynous looks. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Dell'Acqua said he designed the same clothes for men and for women "without falling into the no-gender trap," instead of exploring the interplay between volumes, silhouettes and textiles. The looks aimed to be erotic without being exhibitionist. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the N. 21 Spring-Summer 2020 collection, unveiled during the fashion week. For both men and women, shorts were layered over trousers in identical prints, and tunics trailing over wide-legged trousers.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the N. 21 Spring-Summer 2020 collection. "This touch of eroticism is very important," the designer said backstage. "Today there is too much moralizing. People focus on a breast or an exposed leg, and they don't get scandalized over serious things." (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)