Giada

Fall 2023 Fashion Show Review


Review of Giada Fall 2023 Fashion Show

A Show For All Seasons

By Angela Baidoo

The Giada brand is one that moves in stealth, providing artfully constructed silhouettes that create moments of knowing among those ‘in-the-know’, who have bought into the brands DNA and “Art to Art” philosophy.

Remaining off the main Milan Fashion Week schedule, Giada still pulls a crowd. Set in the opulent surroundings of the Braidense National Library which houses floor to ceiling tomes, it was standing room only for Gabriele Colangelo’s  fall 2023 collection which blurred the lines between the seasons, but rightly so as an unseasonably springlike feeling had descended on the city.

The appeal of a brand that goes it’s own way, is the assurance that it can be kept as a relatively low-key option for those seeking modern shapes that set them apart.

Contrasting with the show space that was steeped in centuries of Italian heritage, a plush cream runway broke the forms of tradition and provided the path for Colangelo’s minimalist shapes that offered within them a soft tactility and smart detail-orientated narrative for the Giada woman.

The appeal of a brand that goes it’s own way, is the assurance that it can be kept as a relatively low-key option for those seeking modern shapes that set them apart. This seasons expression on the evolution of femininity saw the designer add depth to structure. The show notes outlined an exploration of “pure architectural grace” and while many would translate this as geometric forms, here Colangelo looked to the sphere. Not often seen as a common shape in architecture, but in this collection the way they cocooned the models in soft folds made them a viable choice to update his outerwear and dresses. Following the form of the body these shapes made smooth oval shapes on top and tapered into fitted bottoms below, so they would be much more wearable on a daily basis.

Reducing the colour palette down to the classics with “luminous dashes of tangerine”, texture was the connector which was carried through into each look.  Supple leathers took on shades of stone and chalky white which contoured across the body and was a refresh from black, especially for a fall season. Lightweight cashmere and wool gave a nice, draped effect to woven shell tops and mini dresses that were cut away at the sleeve through to the back. Velvet for both the fall and transitionary period just before it, was lightly crushed to create a ripple effect and combined with a sheer knit panel for a midi dress, and a devoré bandeau style with a degradè was also hemmed in a sheer panel, this time chiffon.

The idea is to express an evolutionary take on femininity while staying true to a pervasive pureness of style.

Gabriele Colangelo, Creative Director, Giada

These inventive surface effects and hidden details are what the Giada customer expects of the brand, and for next season the designer has employed these combinations to create a “new iteration of the dialogue between shape and texture that is both painterly and intensely tactile”.