Philipp Plein. Spring 2021 RTW - Milan

                 (Images:  Philipp Plein.  All credit)

Philipp Plein is one of the majority of designers at Milan Fashion Week who did not host a runway show, for obvious reasons on Europe dropping its guard and allowing the virus to reemerge, the German born designer who is noted for extravagant and over-the-top presentations refrained from attempting a redux of his Fall 2020 showing in January; which was at the cusp of the major outbreak, when the Lombardy region (to which Milan is the capital) was quarantined. Plein's offering of the hyperreal as an intentional in-joke or not, would not refute his cult following as the renown showman that he is.  But I think that any attempt at an extravaganza for his latest collection, would not only show a tactless disregard, but might actually dilute his fixture as a designer.  So it is actually refreshing, within context, that a impresario like Plein abstained from a Milan runway presentation, despite the less excessive of brands having a punt with their reduced crowd shows, which could turn out to be counter intuitive, in light of the second wave pandemic which has already hit Europe. 

Still, the show must go on and Plein maintains, even in its lookbook format, that he can set a standard, in all of its caricature leanings.  A 1980s James Bond escapism, ala the late Roger Moore's tenure, which, Plein is clearly affix too, that was once the exclusivity of consumption when to know what a Louie Vuitton handbag is, let alone own one, would amount to a certain degree of designer fashion affordablility.  With the 2000s, thanks to the digital landscape and celebitydom, markets opened up everywhere, hence the established brand names becoming household necessitates. Plein caught the wave, with a success story not akin to others that have laid a claim to fame in less than a decade of creating garments.  So it can be said, that it is the branding that holds true, beyond anything else under the hyper consumption banner. Good or bad, right or wrong, it is what it is. 

This is 80's sex overdrive, to which Plein offered to explain that he wanted to bring back the “positivity” into fashion, but it's the kitsch that drips from his Spring 2021 collection rather than any positive reflection, which in all said and done, is actually appealing from a spectacle point of view. Helicopters, jet skies and a luxury boat, with Plein's stripped down bare essentials and his Swarovski crystal skull motifs, it is a Bond Villain homage of two decades ago or a rewrite of Hollywood sensibilities.  Either way, half naked models, portraying the supermodel-esque romanticism, that within its comical overture holds an unparalleled absurdity, that is clearly not intentional.