Fashion Shows of the 90s

A jaw-dropping decade that made fashion history.

Yes, because the 1990s marked a revolution, on the catwalks as on their margins. Epochal cover stories, stellar designers, feared journalists, unattainable supermodels, all sorts of celebrities present during the shows, and more gossip, tension, indiscretions. The mythical Nineties represent the essence of fashion as we know it today, for the trace they left in everyone's imagination, season after season, between timeless garments, spectacular hairstyles, fashion shows that became million-dollar events and incidents assorted to legend, such as Naomi Campbell's famous stumble during the fashion show for Vivienne Westwood (straight down to the floor after losing her balance from shoes more like trampolines than ladies' heels). In those same years, Gallia e Peter also kicks off its fashion shows on Monte Napoleone Street. The invitation prepared by Laura Marelli is essential and very elegant. It is valid for two people and includes a final toast, because fashion in Milan is work but also conviviality, complicity, meeting. The appointment is usually at 4:30 pm, then it goes on until the evening. The models chosen by the atelier are beautiful: they peep out of a giant circular box with striped black and white, just like in the illustration drawn by Brunetta.

They are shown at half-length (all concentration on their headdresses, where the eye runs fast and from which it is impossible to look away): feathers, lace, tulle, veils, ribbons, bangs, velvets, fur coverings, bows, animalier fabrics. The colors and materials of the season are enhanced by accurate lighting effects, music, dance movements of the models. Nothing is left to chance, and videos and photographs from the period also document this meticulously. Preparation is painstaking and takes weeks at a time. And the parade of Gallia e Peter's hats is well-attended: it attracts acclaim, arouses admiration, is craftsmanship that becomes art and an object of desire for the great designers themselves. It is yet another brilliant, revolutionary idea "popped into Laura Marelli's head" for the fabulous Nineties atelier. To renew herself one more time, looking at the world of big brands that seemed to have wobbled her and her milliners and instead is transformed into new lifeblood and renewed space for comparison. There is nothing to fear, Laura knows. The world changes, what matters is knowing how to sense it in time and anticipate its evolutions, determine them sometimes. Remaining oneself is possible, but to do so one must reinvent oneself. Like on a catwalk, turning the "hatboxes" into your own (exciting) stage. Rising up when you fall, more beautiful, smiling, legendary than ever, like Naomi after slipping from the very high shoes by the brilliant Vivienne Westwood. Success is built this way. Even when it seems that the catwalk has gotten too slippery to continue walking the runway.