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Paul Costelloe Opens 40-year-old London Fashion Week with Classic Designs

A model presents a creation at the Paul Costelloe catwalk show during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
A model presents a creation at the Paul Costelloe catwalk show during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Paul Costelloe Opens 40-year-old London Fashion Week with Classic Designs

A model presents a creation at the Paul Costelloe catwalk show during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
A model presents a creation at the Paul Costelloe catwalk show during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

London Fashion Week kicked off on Friday with Irish designer Paul Costelloe championing classic looks and bringing a little bit of nostalgia to the catwalk as the showcase event celebrates its 40th birthday.
The 78-year-old designer, who could not attend the show due to illness, presented a mix of whites, dark greys and plenty of tweeds in his "Once upon a Time" autumn/winter 2024 collection, described as "Where Limerick meets Downtown New York".
Models in white jackets and floaty skirts opened the show. A selection of plaid looks followed, with the color palette then turning darker for tailored tweed skirt suits, belted coats and short feminine dresses, Reuters reported.
For the evening, there were patterned frocks with puffy sleeves.
"This collection expresses my view that classic design still has its place in high fashion," Costelloe said in show notes.
"I have added a personal moment of nostalgia by adding a print based on the street where I once lived. It was a glorious moment to dream and live."
Costelloe's team also shared a note from the designer explaining his absence due to a virus and wishing London Fashion Week a "happy 40th birthday".
This year marks 40 years since the British Fashion Council (BFC) held its first London Fashion Week, which is one of the four big catwalk fixtures alongside New York, Milan and Paris and is best known for its emerging talent and avant-garde trends.
On Thursday night, several London landmarks were lit up green for the occasion and other celebrations are planned for the year.
"Of course, 40 is kind of a coming of age, a maturity and when we look back, I think we reflect on the incredible creativity that has come through London, and London Fashion Week as a platform," BFC Chief Executive Caroline Rush told Reuters.
"It continues to be about youth culture, subcultures, creativity, innovation and really leading where the rest of the fashion industry will no doubt follow."
Costelloe's show was one of more than 40 catwalk presentations this London Fashion Week, which runs until February 20, with the likes of Burberry, Bora Aksu and Mark Fast also on the calendar.

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Fashion

Silvana Armani Honors a Fashion Dynasty with Fluid, Essential Collection During Milan Fashion Week

A model presents a creation from the Giorgio Armani Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A model presents a creation from the Giorgio Armani Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Silvana Armani Honors a Fashion Dynasty with Fluid, Essential Collection During Milan Fashion Week

A model presents a creation from the Giorgio Armani Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A model presents a creation from the Giorgio Armani Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collection during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Giorgio Armani’s niece Silvana Armani took up her uncle’s mantle with quiet confidence, presenting the first signature collection without the input of the iconic founding designer to close Milan Fashion Week on Sunday.

Actor Andie MacDowell, 67, was among the front-row guests for a show that represented a new chapter for the Giorgio Armani fashion group, following the designer's death Sept. 4 at age 91.

“One of the things that is really important to me is representing women of a certain age, and showing that we still are fashionable and powerful and strong, and we enjoy life and looking beautiful,’’ MacDowell said as she arrived for the show wearing a dark Armani suit with a three-dimensional rose detail.

"I love this because I was born Rosalie Anderson MacDowell, and I thought this suit was made for me. It makes me feel really elegant," she said.

The Giorgio Armani women’s winter wardrobe for next fall and winter was fluid, essential and wholly contemporary, expressing the fashion house’s essence. To point, there was no jewelry, save pins with the zodiac sign for Cancer, for the late designer's birth sign.

Opening looks were in an urban slate gray, softened by silken blouses with foulard detailing around the neck. A burgundy belt gave color and structure, while knitwear with the slightest scoop neck maintained discipline. Long overcoats grazed the runway.

As for her uncle, Silvana Armani made soft yet tailored jackets the backbone of the collection, including quilted Japanese-style jackets and colorful shearling coats. They were complemented with fluid trousers, some with side pleats for volume. Winter white trousers with silken high-neck blouses and anoraks suggested an active lifestyle, as did the cozy knitwear, cross-body bags and tinted eyewear.

The color palette shifted to burgundy and midnight blue, the new black. Velvet looks accented with beaded embroidery gave cozy elegance, while eveningwear featured iridescent corsets that sat slightly away from the body.

Even the dressier looks were worn with cross-body satchels, suggesting that the Giorgio Armani woman wasn’t waiting at home for evening festivities to begin.

Silvana Armani, 70, said after the show that the collection contained looks that she would wear herself.

“Working with fluidity and simplicity came naturally to me, because that’s how I am,” said Armani, who like her uncle took her bows in a navy sweater and trousers.

Emporio Armani in concert Silvana Armani also collaborated with Leo Dell’Orco, as Armani's creative heirs, in a crisp Emporio Armani co-ed collection that previewed on Thursday.

The Armani Theater floor was covered in wood to recall a music conservatory, the inspiration for a collection that drew on British formality with Italian sensibility. Tailcoats and waistcoats evoked performance, while denim grounded the looks and gave them fresh modernity.

The show closed with a striking finale of starched white shirts and impeccable black tie, drawing long, warm applause for the creative duo.

Olympic medal winners from Team Italia took front-row seats. They were outfitted for the Feb. 6-22 Games in EA7 Emporio Armani performance athleticwear.

Fashion

Flights of Fancy at Bottega Veneta with Shimmering, Tactile Collection

A model presents a creation for Bottega Veneta during the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (AFP)
A model presents a creation for Bottega Veneta during the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (AFP)
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Flights of Fancy at Bottega Veneta with Shimmering, Tactile Collection

A model presents a creation for Bottega Veneta during the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (AFP)
A model presents a creation for Bottega Veneta during the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (AFP)

Grey and brutalist, showy and shimmering -- the stark contrasts of the Italian fashion capital of Milan fueled the creative mind of Bottega Veneta's Louise Trotter in her second collection for the brand.

The city's harsh aspects found expression in the armor-like coats that Trotter sent down the runway Saturday night at Milan Fashion Week, while its theatrical side burst forth from delightfully tactile creations made from recycled fiberglass that swayed and shimmered as models made their way down the runway.

The Fall/Winter collection for the brand known for its "intreccio" technique of woven leather was inspired by "what Milanese style meant to me and Bottega Veneta from my viewpoint," Trotter told journalists backstage after the show.

The brutalism of the city, whether in its architecture or its notoriously grey weather, juxtaposes with a more hidden "sensuality and seduction", she said.

That translated to the coats, long jackets and coat dresses with bold, exaggerated shoulders -- "like armor", Trotter said -- some of them with an accompanying brown leather belt that dangled, sword-like, from the waist.

As is fitting for Bottega Veneta, leather infused the collection for both men and women, here on shoulder patches, there on epaulets or collars.

One model was virtually swaddled in supple olive leather, her oversized bomber jacket with high collar paired with an asymmetrical matching leather skirt, with nubby leather flip-flops at her feet.

But the collection took a dramatic turn with the arrival of a series of over-the-top showstopping coats made from recycled fiberglass, a synthetic material introduced at Trotter's debut last September.

The costume-like poofs moved and shimmered under the lights of the former theater where the runway show was held, just steps from the La Scala opera, many of them paired with matching hats, in colors of electric blue, black and bubble-gum pink.

A sweater worn by a male model recalled a Harlequin theme with splotches of red and black against the white background of the shimmering, fur-like material.

"I wanted to express that joy, that theatric," said Trotter, saying the looks expressed the more showy side of Milan's residents, who "really dress up."

"I think it's quite unusual or rare today to find that. And I think it's dressing up for oneself and also for one's community. I think it's a sign of pride and respect."

Trotter's goal as a designer, she said, was to "bring joy and confidence to people" through clothing.

Backstage, rapper Lauryn Hill had on one of Trotter's glittering sweaters of fiberglass, in electric orange, accessorized with an oversized "intreccio" purse with fringe.

An entourage of assistants directed hand fans in Hill's direction to keep her cool, sending the fibers of the outrageous garment aflutter.

"It's got a life of its own," said one of them, with a smile.

Fashion

Madonna is Surprise Attraction at Dolce & Gabbana Milan Show

US singer Madonna (L) is welcomed by Italian stylists Domenico Dolce (R) and Stefano Gabbana (C) after the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)
US singer Madonna (L) is welcomed by Italian stylists Domenico Dolce (R) and Stefano Gabbana (C) after the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)
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Madonna is Surprise Attraction at Dolce & Gabbana Milan Show

US singer Madonna (L) is welcomed by Italian stylists Domenico Dolce (R) and Stefano Gabbana (C) after the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)
US singer Madonna (L) is welcomed by Italian stylists Domenico Dolce (R) and Stefano Gabbana (C) after the womens's ready-to-wear Fall/Winter 2026 collection fashion show as part of the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

Step aside, influencers! Madonna was the star attraction Saturday at the Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan, the week's top celebrity sighting that risked overshadowing the brand's all-black collection of ultra-feminine looks.

Arriving 45 minutes late, the "Material Girl" made her way to her seat -- next to fashion doyenne Anna Wintour, no less -- wearing a short black corset-style dress underneath a black jacket, dark glasses and turquoise gloves.

And when Madonna is at your show during Milan Fashion Week, you practically leap from the catwalk to greet her, as did Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce afterwards, escorting their guest backstage to the flash of hundreds of cameras, AFP reported.

Madonna, who has worked with D&G since the 1990s, stars in the brand's campaign for its The One perfume along with actor Alberto Guerra, also at the show.

The latest collection from the design pair was inspired by the idea of identity, according to the show notes, and built on "Sicily as emotion, black as strength, lace as intimacy, tailoring as authority".

Double-breasted panels featured on sharply tailored menswear-inspired black coats, trenches and pinstripe suits -- but placed on the garment's back side, offering a surprise enjoyed from both directions on the catwalk.

The designers heavily tapped black lace and sheer silk organza, allowing for ample glimpses of skin despite skirts cut to the shins, some with flouncy hems.

The lingerie feel pervaded the collection, on minidresses with long sleeves, flowing skirts, see-through tops or on bralettes worn underneath other lacey looks.

As in many of D&G's past collections, Sicily, the birthplace of Dolce, loomed large, whether in the knit fringed shawls that recalled elderly Sicilian widows or the black kerchiefs tied under the chin covering the models' hair.

The expert crochet handiwork on sweaters and shawls could have been done by Sicilian grandmothers -- who would likely have been shocked by how the old-fashioned technique became modern and sexy in the hands of the two designers.

A black corset and garters over hot pants were accessorized by a scarf that recalled a Sicilian staple, a fishing net, with its open weave.

Little black dresses were structured, sensual and very tight, while imposing (fake) fur coats were belted and paired with black kerchiefs.

One showstopper with diagonal white-and-black stripes would have made Disney villainess Cruella de Vil proud, while another in rich brown and black tones looked as if it could have been worn by Edie Beale in the 1975 queer culture classic, documentary "Grey Gardens".

After the show, D&G Chief Executive Alfonso Dolce, Domenico's brother, declined to comment on the current environment in the luxury industry, but told AFP that "we need to be positive, love life, and do our best every day in what we can do.

"We need love and peace, because if we have that, we have everything."