Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2023/24 Through Mark de Paola's Lens

Milan Fashion Week for fall/winter 2023/24 concluded on February 27 after running from February 21. Photographer Mark de Paola captured backstage images for several brands. Antonio Marras presented his women's and men's collections in a custom-built forest with mirrors at his concept store on Via Cola di Rienzo 8, featuring performers and looks dedicated to Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda. The collection mixed tradition and innovation with crinoline skirts, deconstructed suits, black veils, and romantic-decadent dresses, using bold patterns and colors like red. Calcaterra, an emerging brand by Daniele Calcaterra, showed a minimalist yet classic Italian style with punk influences, using wool, cotton crepe, silk, grain de poudre, gabardine, abstract-geometric jacquard, and sophisticated animalier on recycled twill, in a vibrant palette of mud, moldy, and material reds. Tokyo James, founded by the eponymous emerging designer, presented an 'incomplete' collection blending young bourgeoisie and working-class aesthetics, with jacket-pant suits, enveloping coats, denim pieces, and raw vests, featuring metallic applications and maxi trims. The brand aims for a different kind of luxury, still developing its identity.