Francesco Scognamiglio (Q4079)
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Francesco Scognamiglio is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Francesco Scognamiglio |
Francesco Scognamiglio is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Francesco Scognamiglio celebrated 20 years in fashion with an haute couture show held in Rome, where he presented his first couturedéfiléin 2000. “I wanted to say thank you to a city that has meant so much to me,” he said during an appointment at his showroom in Milan. Thanks to an invitation from Silvia Venturini Fendi, AltaRoma’s president, he decided for this season to decamp from Paris, where he usually presents his couture collections, to the Eternal City. “It’s my personal tribute to my Mediterranean roots,” he added. Scognamiglio hails from Pompei and grew up in Naples; you cannot get more Mediterranean than that.The collection was an ode to the theatrical style that is the designer’s signature; he defined it as “romantic carnality.” It’s a look that appeals to many celebrities: From Beyoncé and Björk to Madonna and Nicki Minaj, they have all succumbed to Scognamiglio’s imaginative flamboyance. He duly celebrated them in the couture show, reediting 13 of his most spectacular designs.The second half of the show reverted to a similar aesthetic, with embellishments and feathers galore and see-through numbers in abundance. Scognamiglio was inspired by the opulent friezes and stuccos of Baroque Neapolitan churches, translated here in sumptuous Swarovski ornamentation. Referencing the sacred-versus-profane religious theme, a flame red crepe de Chine was embroidered with an evocative motif inspired by a thorny crown, with red crystals mimicking drops of blood. Elsewhere, a long column dress was entirely covered with silver sequins and richly draped as a peplum; it was intended as a nod to a style in vogue in ancient Rome.
31 January 2018
One recurring theme this season is of designers casting around for new ways to move. Tonight, Francesco Scognamiglio added himself to that roster. This Pompeiian designer has long specialized in volcanically va-va-voomish classicism of an especially Italian dimension, and he has a committed clientele at couture level. Here at RTW, his collections have long mirrored that aesthetic.For Spring, Scognamiglio pivoted, inserting many elements that seemed alien to his backstory but which sometimes worked—and sometimes didn’t. The didn’ts included a lace sweatshirt lined with hot pink ribbing and featuring panels of palm tree print, the T-shirt that saidexposedwith more panels, and the fuchsia metallic bomber—surely this was a leap too far into Au Jour Le Jour territory. The lace-trimmed boxers dwelt somewhere between did and didn’t, depending on your appetite for lace-trimmed boxers. Yet when the designer combined his real understanding of dressmaking with the materials of this new unmastered post-Instagram argot, things began to click. His metallic-fuchsia-sprayed lace dress with its ribbing beltline was loud in a new-for-Scognamiglio way, but worked undeniably admirably as a dress. So too his bustier dresses in perforated silver and more fuchsia, triple-tiered at the hem. Backstage Scognamiglio gamely talked about a fantasy island full of happy women having a beautiful night in outfits of sunset hue, “where love has no sex”—but this was not a sexless collection. Here the designer was doing a job he knows well for a new set of potential clients to whom his usual school of fabrications would seem anachronistic. There’s no shame in adjusting your rigging to take advantage of prevailing winds, and if Scognamiglio has read the weather right, tonight’s adjustment might propel his ready-to-wear business forward. There can be no harm in trying.
20 September 2017
Francesco Scognamiglio skipped the couture runway in Paris this season, opting for an intimate presentation in his Milanese atelier. He was in a reflective mood. “I wanted to concentrate more on couture’s real values: the personal relationship with my clients, who need privacy and attention; the unique creativity that goes into every outfit. Couture must remain the undiluted peak of craftsmanship,” he mused. After a Parisian Couture Week that proved to be the most democratic to date, throwing its arms wide open to the whole fashion spectrum, from New York labels to high jewelry presentations, Scognamiglio’s attitude felt positively Old World. The designer presented a tightly edited lineup, conveying his high-end message through a fashion shoot in which Italian photographer Giampaolo Sgura lensed statuesque model Hilary Rhoda, her classical beauty complementary to Scognamiglio’s theatrical baroque style.“Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the Garden of Eden,” said the designer, alluding to his desire to escape the increasingly chaotic fashion system and the often unforgiving pressures it puts on designers. He appointed a painter friend to come up with an exclusive print of a magical tropical jungle, with happy parakeets swirling about and humongous carnal liliums blossoming in hallucinogenic colors. The tropical print graced sinuous knee-length dresses in silk satin or silk charmeuse worn with matching trousers, where the opulence factor was raised with lavish crystal embroideries and appliqués, a leitmotif. A long column dress in net tulle was cut like a simple fitted tunic, yet it was entirely studded with rhinestones and encrusted with floral arabesques; you could light an entire room wearing it. Grand opera coats in padded silk with huge fox collars were quilted with floral motifs, embroidered with intricate embellishments, or trimmed with organza in contrasting colors. Their luxe was extreme, but they were also cocoon-like.“Couture clients are discreet; they don’t crave publicity,” said Scognamiglio. The designer adores weddings; he actually started his career as a wedding couturier in his atelier in Pompeii in 1998. Obliging couture tradition, for the collection’s finale he concocted a pair of long white dresses. They were a triumph of crystals and exquisite silk lace intarsias, copiously appliquéd on sheer, sexy mousseline that revealed just so. Couture clients may indeed be discreet, but only to a certain extent.
7 July 2017
This may be a naughty intro. Okay, a naughty review. But what the heck. Following the exit of Cavalli himself and thenPeter Dundas(bravo, btw—what a return with Beyoncé that was!), there is an empty chair at Roberto Cavalli. And wereFrancesco Scognamiglioto be for any reason interested in filling it, he could not have provided a better application than tonight’s show.As a designer, the only thing more on Cavalli’s mind than presenting baroquely extravagant flourishes of design inspired by the natural world is his determination to make the women wearing it look overtly available and intensely desirable for men who, like himself, are inclined to desire them. What Scognamiglio has long shared with Cavalli is this aspect: he makes dresses that women look sexy to men in.Tonight, Scognamiglio took the Cavalli-esque route of focusing on a natural phenomenon—the butterfly—around which to build his collection. There was a lot of boob, a lot of thigh, and a fair old dose of hip bone too—yet there was also quite a lot of considered design deployed when calculating how most fruitily to display them. A lepidopterist’s exactitude was displayed in the precision fitting of his rather beautiful green and black silk jacquard butterfly wing fabrics across the model’s bodies. Velvet dresses with wing-patched cutouts in butterfly hunter’s netted tulle were placed to best display the aforementioned hip bone. Some dresses were in fabrics so light they would have made a self-respecting butterfly blush.Scognamiglio is a gifted designer with a particular aesthetic that is perhaps a little anachronistic in today’s fiercely conscious fashion consensus, but which serves his customers well. He might be worth a flutter. But maybe the powers that be want someone who is more in tune with the consensus. Even if it isn’t very Cavalli.
22 February 2017
For his sophomore show as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture,Francesco Scognamigliodiffused the flavor and finery from his native Naples through gilded Parisian salons built for Roland Bonaparte, grandnephew of Napoléon. The handmade porcelain roses dotting the leather miniskirts that opened the lineup and staggered across the powder pink satin wedding gown that closed it could be traced back to the Capodimonte museum which houses the 18th century boudoir of Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony. If, as he noted, these breakable buds “represent a woman’s inner fragility,” the message from his 20 Spring looks was rock ’n’ royal. Baroque tracery on a slinky silver slip dress, oversize stud embellishments, and latex stockings were among the signs that Scognamiglio hasn’t tempered his extroverted taste to fit in among the established French houses. Even so, he can cut a sheer and shimmery gown that stands up against any other—not least because his secret is a barely there bodice that creates the striking sculpted necklines.Backstage, Scognamiglio said he dedicated the show to the memory of Princess Diana, who would have been turning 56 this summer. According to the designer, they met one time around 1994 when he was working at Versace. One can almost imagine England’s rose in his tuxedo with its peaked shoulders, asymmetrical peplum, and seafoam beading. He also seems to have channeled her though new floral applications; both the oversize embroideries on the silver jacquard coat and the digitally printed flowers offer fresh updates to the couture repertoire. Showing in Paris has “put me on the world stage,” he said. Perhaps the flowers are a sign of his gratitude.
25 January 2017
Francesco Scognamiglio has quite a lot on his plate. Besides designing the customary four collections a year, something that has become the norm for most designers, he’s busy prepping his couture line, which will be presented in Paris in less than 10 days. He was in an upbeat mode; couture has so far been a success, triggering a chain reaction of positive karma, bringing about more international recognition and media attention, loads of celebrities swooning over his concoctions, and the best department stores asking for exclusives. An increased confidence was the obvious result, and it trickled down to his Pre-Fall lineup.There’s always a whiff of decadence about Scognamiglio’s style, an irreverent bourgeois bent mixed with a romantic-meets-fetish dark side. Case in point were a few looks printed in chiffon or lace and paired with black leather, as in a short slip dress worn with a white needle-punched, macramé-inset sweatshirt. It also underlined the sporty vibe that the designer introduced in the lineup. This was rendered in its own idiosyncratic way, with the addition of abundant ruching sprouting up from collars or trailing from sleeves, texture piercings of see-through intarsia and cut-outs.Shirting was inventive, with a play on Victoriana for puffy, ribboned sleeves and volants galore on high, demure collars; lace contrasted with poplin for a crisp, modern feel. Blouses were best when worn underneath midi slip dresses in silk cloque with ruched bodices, or with a black draped viscose number for a sensual yet restrained effect. Elsewhere, Scognamiglio indulged his penchant for romantic prints and baroque finishes, as in a short dress in jacquard fil coupe with floral motifs, which he injected with a tougher feel by way of a black leather bodice encrusted with see-through lace. As the saying goes, you cannot keep the wolf away from the lamb.
16 January 2017
Sometimes a reviewer, in order to make sense of what she has to review, needs to extricate herself from a series of tangled conundrums, one of the most common being the totally divergent visions often simultaneously presented by the collection’s press notes, the designer’s quotes given backstage, and what one actually sees materialized on the catwalk. It takes a certain aplomb to navigate such turbulence.Francesco Scognamiglio, asked backstage before the show about his Spring collection’s inspiration, cited his childhood memories of the circus—the melancholy of the clowns and the silvery sheen of soap bubbles. But also: an oversize and deconstructed masculine wardrobe that belonged to an aristocrat’s father. It sounded already quite hermetic, but the press notes added an extra layer of inscrutable meanings: “urban enfant terribles,” “a 21st-century Renaissance.” Difficult to figure out what to expect; even a crystal ball wouldn’t be of help.Yet once on the catwalk, as if by magic and out of this improbable jumble of images and words, the collection gelled, making quite a lot of sense. Actually it’s fair to say that it was one of the best Scognamiglio has concocted so far. His Parisian Haute Couture outing has served him well, giving him more focus, streamlining the lineup. While the circus inspiration was difficult to detect, the play on masculine oversize volumes was in plain sight, as in a few asymmetric poplin shirts, some of them nicely played against sexy micro shorts in chantilly lace. The look felt substantial; even if Scognamiglio indulged his penchant for flimsy lingerie, he toned down the louche appeal, upping the luxe factor instead. The couture touch was also apparent in a gorgeous jacquard brocade in gold, seawater green, and fuchsia, which graced big bombers with fringed piping worn with micro lacy shorts, or was cut into a sharply tailored opera coat. Paired with a crisp white poplin ensemble, it made for a winning look.
21 September 2016
“I knew it was my dream since the beginning,” saidFrancesco Scognamiglioof his invitation from the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture to be a guest member this season. That beginning, said Scognamiglio, was around the time he was 19 and working as a tailor in his hometown of Naples. And here he was in a sumptuous hôtel particulier showing off sensuous, body skimming gowns crafted from gold thread hand-embroidered to resemble lace, feathers sculpted into dimensional scrollwork, and linings completely adorned in Swarovski crystals. Talk about a career high.Scognamilio opened his show with an embellished PVC coat topped with black mink, its clear shell revealing legwear that glistened with crystals. “Strong, romantic, erotic” was how he described the look, adding “it’s my identity 100 percent.” Other identities came to mind with some of the strategically sheer looks, yet these intricate creations also spoke strongly to a new generation of clients who put the rock into rococo. Scognamiglio singled out the solid black dress with a layer of embroidery unfurling at the bodice as his favorite and it’s easy to see why—it maximized the glamour with little revealed. The pleated ruffles revealed less still, but the upward fanning was more worthy of a classical portrait than real life. The ample coat covered in embroidered flowers inspired by an 18th century painting of a garden in Posillipo near where Scognamiglio grew up deserves special mention; it felt true to both French and Italian high fashion (it was also beautifully finished on the inside).All of this was especially impressive given that Scognamiglio said he had just three months to realize this collection. The women next to this reporter remarked, not necessarily by way of criticism, that the 19 looks didn’t number nearly half as many as what’s usually shown at Chanel. But of course, quality is the more important measure. And it was there.
3 July 2016
Francesco Scognamigliois presenting his first haute couture collection in Paris at the beginning of July, which is quite an achievement for him. Preparations were in full swing at his Milanese headquarters while he was simultaneously getting his Resort lineup ready for buyers. “Let’s say that I can’t afford to get lazy,” he said. For a born-and-bred Neapolitan hailing from a city where living at a leisurely pace is the universal norm, enduring such stress is proof of quite a stamina.Scognamiglio put a full array of references into his Resort collection. “I started thinking about a new Renaissance,” he said. “I played with historical floral prints and turned them into a sort of contemporary vintage.” He pointed out a cotton canvas midi dress with balloon sleeves. But then his penchant for a sexy rock ’n’ roll look kicked in, manifesting itself in see-through bubblegum pink lace minidresses or black lace blousons paired with slinky satin tiered skirts and bustiers. Ultra-short slip dresses were testament to the designer’s longtime love of a luxe bedroom aesthetic. Elsewhere, a few white poplin dresses and tunics had a more subdued, almost virginal feel, yet a touch of slightly perverse, dark romanticism kept the sensuality factor quite high. To add to the already densely mixed lineup, a graphic animal print was introduced on long tiered chiffon dresses and canvas city coats, along with an abstract floral motif that appeared on dresses and skirts that played with asymmetries and layers.
21 June 2016
Francesco Scognamigliowas inspired by Richard Strauss’sDer Rosenkavalier, the famous opera composed during the early part of the 20th century. Full of comic intrigues and double cross-dressing, it was a racy yet romantic affair, with a hint of dark nostalgia and a longing for a vanished world. The music mirrors the passage from an era of melodic harmonies to more shattered, dissonant acoustic patterns, becoming sharper in tone, experimental and challenging for the ears. Scognamiglio was obviously fascinated by the disruptive side of the concept. “I wanted to deconstruct the clothes, almost tearing them apart, trying to find a new perspective,” he said backstage. “I was thinking about the contrasting emptiness and fullness of the space around the body.”That emptiness referred (probably) to looped hems and oval cutouts that perforated liquid column dresses in flimsy, barely-there lace, all frills and flounces with an undone vibe; the fullness was (arguably) translated in more substantial coats and jackets with a slight dropped turn of sleeve: “It’s the Neapolitan shoulder,” enthused the designer, waxing lyrical about the traditional skills of Naples’s tailors. The tailoring was in fact quite good, as in a slim black coat fastened with a white satin ribbon laced through pierced metallic hooks. A leopard silk jacquard jacket worn with a mini black dress also looked cool. Elsewhere, exquisitely embroidered oversize bombers in faded colors were paired with lingerie-inspired gossamer hybrids (dresses? tops?) so transparent they were almost zero degrees of separation from total nakedness. The same could be said of baby dolls or slipdresses so diaphanous they left very little to the imagination. The finale, in pure dramatic Neapolitan style, was a triumph of lace, Lurex threads, beading, and Swarovski crystals galore. To top it all off, the last look, a long dress with ruffled loops and cutouts, could have served as a perfect manifesto for the “free the nipple” movement. It will probably not fare very well on Instagram, though.
24 February 2016
A stylish Italianprincipessaplans on traveling to Capri in winter. What will she carry in her monogrammed suitcase?Francesco Scognamigliois at the ready to help her pack: plush cashmeres and furs for strolling along the romantic promenade leading to Villa Jovis, sexy numbers to party in at night at the famous Anema e Coretaverna. Ever faithful to his vision of decadent femininity, the designer concocted a Pre-Fall lineup as a play of luxurious opposites. Traditional Neapolitan tailoring was the foundation of masculine-inspired outerwear cut with exacting precision. Explosions of flounces and volants graced evening dresses of aristo-bohemian flair.Coats and jackets were built in thick, soft wool, adding volume and structure to controlled shapes. Shoulders were given a roundness and ease. The silhouette was elongated, grounded by slim trousers or by a new version of capri pants, cropped and slightly flared. Yet Scognamiglio’s unabashed love of drama was on full display in long, sexy dresses in dark see-through lace glowing with the shimmer of golden jacquard motifs or sequins; they were reminiscent of the Baroque interiors of southern Italian churches and of ornate palazzos.
16 January 2016
Born and bred in Naples (in Pompei, no less),Francesco Scognamigliois still deeply in love with this city of staggering beauty and louche-ness, opposites that coexist in a web of inextricable contradictions. This clearly feels quite natural for the designer, who delves with abandon into Naples’s history and decadent heritage for inspiration. All that was apparent in his Spring collection, in which he referenced the esoteric Sansevero Chapel, a 16th-century masterpiece that hosts the statue of the Veiled Christ—a marble wonder that looks so incredibly real, as if it were made of actual flesh draped in the thinnest of fabric.“Theater, mirrors, artifice,” said the designer backstage, pointing out wispy, ruffled dresses in white and shell pink, light as a feather and almost liquid in their sensuality. Transparent Chantilly lace and inconspicuous point d’esprit conjured up a romantic feel for fluctuating long dresses, exuding reminiscences of boudoirs and 18th-century courtesans—yet they were slashed, layered, and multitiered to modern effect. Black silk mikado jackets with round shoulders felt more substantial; they came inlaid with graphic intarsia inspired by peeling stucco ceilings that looked like cracks through which a delicate jade green lining could be glimpsed. Dresses in white or black liquid satin were printed and embroidered with an oversize iris motif and adorned with an abundance of rosette appliqués; they balanced the overall barely there effect and the nude transparencies of the lineup. The craftsmanship was undoubtedly exquisite. It makes sense that Scognamiglio—backed by a new investor, Malaysian entrepreneur Johann Young—will debut his Haute Couture collection in Paris in 2016, where he’ll finally fulfill a childhood dream.
24 September 2015
This Friday, Francesco Scognamiglio—the man, not the brand—will turn 40, but there was not a scintilla of anxiety about him as he presented this Resort '16 collection today. These were good-time clothes, from the opening looks—a ruffled overall dress and a V-neck minidress in a gold-starred white jacquard—to the last—a hugely skirted pale violet crepe dress printed with orchids and wisteria. Variously romantic, ethereal, tough, or winsome, it was almost all unambiguously feminine—which made a change—with the exception of the impression-collared jackets that were a nod to Scognamiglio's Neapolitan tailoring parentage.A white-on-white jacquard of a Scognamiglio-drafted mandala of stars, circles, and star beams was rather squandered through being so hard to see, as was an impressively light black pimpled jacquard. Treated drill had the indigo of unwashed denim but a finer feel and was spattered with more stars, this time as golden studs. They reappeared, tiny, on each fringe that jiggled two tiers on a black suede miniskirt below a faux-denim Western shirt jacket. Delicately shredded soft silk-cotton jersey was meant to look, Scognamiglio said, "like it had been scratched by a cat," but it could also have been visited by moths—something that made it effectively moth-proof. Come Friday night, Scognamiglio will be throwing his party in a Naples palazzo. If his friends are as engaging as this collection, it should be a good one.
22 June 2015
Francesco Scognamiglio found himself wedged between two hot shows tonight, the latter of which is such a big spender he lost some key models at the 11th hour. He made do. Scognamiglio has operated on the borders of Milan fashion week for at least a decade, never quite making it big despite the fact that the guy cuts some of the best pants in town. This season they were high-waisted and straight-legged with an exposed gold zipper—more than a hint kinky. He paired them with a tucked-in ribbed knit mohair sweater or with belted, shawl-collar jackets that grazed the hips.The designer is making efforts to build his day business, despite his natural inclinations. At least a few times Scognamiglio obscured his perfectly cut pants entirely with a sheer wisp of a dress. It's hard to see beyond his silky, décolletage-exposing frocks: They're just so darn everything-out-there-and-ready-for-your-delectation. The best dress here was more modestly inclined in pink dévoré velvet with three-quarter sleeves, an ankle-length hem, and a loose belt around the natural waist. It would be nice to see Scognamiglio continue to move in that direction—romantic, without edging toward the indiscreet. A pair of long belted coats with generously proportioned belts suggested that he's more than capable of such everyday delights. On the other hand, the sheared black lamb duster lined with pink satin quilted in an elaborate rose motif was hardly the stuff of morning commutes, but it showcased some couture-quality technique. It would've been interesting to see it paired with something other than a lace-edged teddy; still, Scognamiglio will get some attention out of it on the celebrity front.
25 February 2015
In Francesco Scognamiglio's Pre-Fall collection, two different sides of his inspiration were on display. One was romantic, ethereal, almost angelic; the other was darkly seductive and gothic. They both coalesced into some sort of rock-romantic look, reminiscent of the '70s, with a few exotic touches of bohemia thrown in for good measure. Long, fluid dresses in white crepe de chine would have been a dream for a languid Talitha Getty lounging on a terrace in Tangier; they were also pretty when printed in an abstract floral pattern. The black pieces had a sexier feel. Chiffon was encrusted with delicate lace for a lingerie-inspired see-through dress—one of the designer's favorite themes. Faux leather was embroidered with an intricate matelassé pattern of butterflies and leaves, as in a bomber jacket worn over a transparent ankle-skimming skirt. A minidress in silverpaillettelace was topped with a gilet in black fox, upping the luxe factor. The Gianvito Rossi signature black napa leather thigh-high boots with a stiletto heel added an aggressive yet chic frisson. Flashes of red complemented the color palette with a dash of drama, a word whose meaning Scognamiglio, born in Naples—a city with a flair for tumultuous beauty and passion—understands perfectly well.
19 January 2015
Francesco Scognamiglio has been through his share of downs and ups lately. Losing a business partner, going it alone in a city notoriously difficult for fledgling independents, finding a new business partner. Tonight he was in the ascendant, with a collection of delicate, just a little bit dirty 1930s-inflected dresses. Long sleeves, bias-cut silk, below-the-knee hemlines, lots of boobies. Scognamiglio has never shied away from the nipple, and they were on proud display here. It'd be nice to see him address modesty-preserving lingerie at some point, but for the moment we'll let the sheer factor slide. Why? Put simply, there was a lot of prettiness here, from baby-blue silk habotai numbers with almost ineffable lacy white embroideries to slightly more wholesome floral print styles overlaid with more of that exquisite lace. A white silk blouse worn with a stretchy black net skirt embroidered with shiny round silver studs roused the audience to spontaneous applause, a rare sound at this, or any, fashion week.Best of all were the stretch tulle blouses worn withsalopettesthat formed a V over the breasts. That's one way to deal with the see-through issue; they also showcased Scognamiglio's skills as a tailor. The designer himself was most excited about the white tulle gown that Karmen Pedaru modeled at the end of the show. Appliquéd with lace and embroidered with crystals, it was a taste, he intimated, of a forthcoming couture collection.
17 September 2014
Francesco Scognamiglio was born in Pompeii; these days he vacations only slightly farther afield, on Capri. But while his Resort collection was entirely dedicated to that chic island, its true inspiration came from one of its most famous visitors: Jackie O., circa 1973. "That was a time when people walked barefoot around the island. She lived there in a very natural way. It was a place of freedom and happiness," he explained. From vintage photos of Jackie sporting her favorite basics, the designer spun out luxury iterations in a palette of blues, from Capri pants (obviously) to a breezy perforated cotton dress and skirts with lashings of fringe. Lace minidresses and transparent, zebra-striped popovers channeled a distinct seventies vibe, while other pieces, like a long white sleeveless dress edged in blue, existed serenely outside of decade-specific constraints. Elsewhere, a group of "Pop" prints cast tropical florals against a dark ground—a direction that Scognamiglio will explore anew in his upcoming collection.
18 June 2014
Karmen Pedaru was in the front row at Francesco Scognamiglio's show. True, she's naturally blessed, but wearing high-waisted black trousers by the designer, the model had legs for days and days. It's no small skill to be able to cut pants as well as Scognamiglio can. He put a few pairs on his runway; there was also a trio of suits in wine, icy gray, and black with metallic embroidery, and they looked predictably sharp. Lingerie is Scognamiglio's other obsession—this was mostly a collection about underpinnings remodeled as outerpinnings. A fur coat was inset with a corset at the waist, and corsets in turn became miniskirts with elastic brassiere straps dangling from the hemline. Provocative, if not quite shocking. After all, Jean Paul Gaultier was doing this kind of stuff way, way back.Where Scognamiglio went wrong was with his newfangled full-torso corsets. Made in conjunction with an engineer, he explained, they extended from right below the chin to the hips, and to the touch they felt like thin, rigid neoprene. In a flesh tone, they were particularly creepy, turning the models' torsos into smooth, featureless mannequin bodies. Where's the sexy in that?
18 February 2014
Discussing his Pre-Fall collection, Francesco Scognamiglio touted what he called "a new renaissance of my work." The Italian designer recently bought back his company from a former business partner. Now, newly independent, he's attempting to rejigger things a bit. In the past, his runway shows have almost always been devoted to eveningwear. Even when he was focused on his tailoring, he preferred sheer, even provocative materials, from lace to PVC.For Pre-Fall, he put a new emphasis on wearability, showing polished outerwear and neatly constructed trousers and pencil skirts. Scognamiglio has a way with a frilly blouse; the best here came in Chantilly with high, ruffled necks and the narrowest of sleeves. But he leaned too heavily on sweatshirts to give the collection a contemporary look and feel. They've become utterly predictable, and Scognamiglio didn't do himself any favors when he decorated his versions with a veiled Christ figure. Religious iconography is Riccardo Tisci's thing.
26 January 2014
Since his show in February, Francesco Scognamiglio has separated from his business partner. Backstage he was talking about the difficulties of doing it all on his own again, but he was fairly upbeat. He named his new Spring collection Renaissance—the models' faces were covered with glitter, as if they were freshly emerged from a chrysalis—and after last season's scaled-back efforts, this did feel like a return to fanciful form. But not too fanciful. Scognamiglio seems keen to do some business. So you had a few stretch jersey ice-skater dresses and even an embellished sweatshirt in the mix, where once upon a time, when he was a good bit greener, there would've been only latex blouses and PVC trousers.Scognamiglio loves lace, and there were scads of it here. He cut it into short dresses with squared-off backs and apron-fronts with extra volume blooming from the midriff. That's a new proportion for him, and in keeping with his idea about rebirth, it was very youthful. Scognamiglio will need Hollywood starlets on his side as he tries to raise the profile of his label. But as he rebuilds, it might be wiser to work on refining what he's already good at. We suggest starting with that gorgeous empire-waist lace cami and the floor-grazing skirt with the front ruffle kick.
18 September 2013
Watching Francesco Scognamiglio's show tonight made you appreciate fashion's industrial and educational complexes in New York and London. Those cities churn out young designers double-time compared to Milan. Scognamiglio is no longer a newcomer; nonetheless, he's one of the small handful of talents to emerge here in the last five or so years, and you get the feeling that he could've used more mentoring along the way.Scognamiglio seemed to have scaled back his ambitions with his new collection for Fall. Many of the looks were variations of the first, a silk blouse with a bit of a ruffle snazzing up the situation, worn with high-waisted, full-leg pants. This season he mentioned the Veronica Lake flickSullivan's Travelsas inspiration, which explains the vaguely 1940s-ish shapes. Scognamiglio's tailoring is not to be quibbled with; he's always cut a great pair of trousers, and here he had a fanciful way with a blouse. But if he ran low on propositions, he had even fewer fabrics to work with. All the black and white wound up feeling repetitive, an issue not abetted by a gray-tone leopard, a print we've all seen too much of lately. Scognamiglio also knows his way around a long-line column dress. The white one he showed on Karmen Pedaru was pretty much faultless. You wished that he had the wherewithal, financial or otherwise, to expand on it.
19 February 2013
Francesco Scognamiglio shows skin on the runway and shyness in the showroom. That's business for you. It can be hard to sell as sheer a message as he delivers from the catwalk, and in any case, the (slightly) more demure collections he makes for the more commercial Resort and pre-fall seasons have their own real-world appeal. There's no stinting on glamour—Scognamiglio's favored ruffles and gold embroidery take care of that—but his new range had the added bonus of being approachable, too. He'd been thinking, the designer said, of bon-ton aristos: high-living gals with class to burn. You could certainly see them making the ski-resort rounds in fox-trimmed camel coats, or stepping out for evening in floor-length, slinky gowns in earthy bordeaux. But even atypical restraint—that gown came with a cardigan thrown over its shoulder's, for God's sake!—couldn't completely quell the kinky note Scognamiglio injects into even the sweetest looks. Here, it came via black leather gloves, spiky cutout heels, and the practiced eye of his new collaborator, the Milanese photographer Simone Falcetta, who shot Scognamiglio's lookbook, as well as his new campaign.
23 January 2013
"She's an aristocratic woman who travels to Provence in a hot-air balloon at the beginning of the last century." Francesco Scognamiglio said before his show tonight. "It's a trip," he added. Scognamiglio is familiar enough with those; he's been off on one esoteric tangent or another for years now. He also makes beautiful clothes—the cotton blouses inset with lace or embroidered with birds that he showed with floor-scraping maxi skirts for Spring were lovely, and suits cut with double-breasted jackets and drop-crotch pants prove he's no slouch in the tailoring department either.So why hasn't Scognamiglio broken through? This season, at least, we're going to blame his reliance on almost exclusively sheer fabrics. Women at the beginning of the last century wore underpinnings. With his love for lace, Scognamiglio could build a profitable side business making lingerie. Why not? At the very least, the new design challenge might spur thoughts about avenues of growth.
18 September 2012
The trapeze shape caught Francesco Scognamiglio's eye for Resort. "The inspiration is all about the triangle," he explained. Abstract in theory but clear in practice: Trapeze dresses and A-lines had a heady moment in the late seventies, and it was this era that Scognamiglio set out to channel, seen through the lens of one of its great muses, Catherine Deneuve. It's no stretch to imagine the young Denueve in one of the designer's mini shifts or frothier, sheerer concoctions. But he brought his own spin to the retro reference by pairing them with military-inspired outerwear and pieces with rock goddess details like gold studding and metal teeth. "Military goes romantic," he explained. On the subject of this-gone-that, there's the print: a safari-inspired mix of paisley and animal skin.
18 June 2012
Not far into Francesco Scognamiglio's Fall show, a fellow editor leaned over and said, "A lot tamer than usual, no?" It was certainly less risqué than last season's strong outing in which every piece, without exception, was sheer. Today by contrast, in what looked like a play at commercial viability, Scognamiglio introduced crochet knit sweaters and neo-conservative tailoring in a stiff woolen with a slight metallic sheen. He even, believe it or not, sent out a few of his models with briefcases tucked under their arms.But Scognamiglio could only hold back his eccentric impulses for so long. Midway through the show there appeared a button-down shirt printed with a pair of whales and grapefruit slices. Animals and fruit were popular tropes for Spring, but only the designer's psychiatrist could plumb the meaning of that combo. Later on, a bias-cut column gown came out with hip panniers in stuffed grapefruit slices—if nothing else, the exaggerated padding was on-trend. Truth be told, Scognamiglio is best in avant-garde mode. A fuzzy overcoat with splatches of electric green car paint had a sit-up-and-notice-me quality that some of the safer pieces lacked. Negotiating that divide will be Scognamiglio's challenge going forward.
21 February 2012
Francesco Scognamiglio may have looked to the ruins of Pompeii—"my hometown, my city," he called it—to create the prints he used in his latest pre-fall collection, but the driving inspiration for the new line, he said, was "American woman." American woman circaDynasty, to be specific. The silhouettes did have the bigger-the-better shoulders and cinched-in waists favored in the eighties, albeit with a more elegant, European spin. (Scognamiglio said he was looking to the tailoring of Azzedine Alaïa, too.) With the dramatic proportions and his usual parade of see-through lace on display, this was Scognamiglio at his most baroque. But the emphasis on evening had a very good reason: It's what his clients demand. The designer reported that red-carpet requests are coming in faster than ever, and Madonna has just worn a pair of his flared trousers on the cover ofBazaar. "All of my clients, fortunately or unfortunately, are stars," he said with a shrug. A small professional hazard of making clothes that make any woman feel like one.
18 January 2012
Controlled. Historically, that hasn't been a word you'd associate with the eccentric Francesco Scognamiglio. But that's exactly how his Spring show looked tonight, partially bared breasts and exposed underpinnings notwithstanding. Scognamiglio refined his approach this season by zeroing in on a single idea, the trousseau of a woman from the 1920's, and then reimagining the ivory, peach, and mint blue lace you might find there for a woman of today. Out went the theoretical sack dresses and in came wantable racerback tanks and pencil skirts; bow-neck blouses and neatly tailored trousers; and ruffled hourglass frocks. The caveat, and it's a fairly big one: Everything was either made in peekaboo lace or featured sheer insets strategically placed for maximum exposure, or both. Above the waist, that's nothing a delicate bra couldn't fix, but below it, you've got to think that it'd be a deal breaker for most women—though not perhaps for Lady Gaga, a confirmed Scognamiglio fan.So why the accolades? For one, it was well executed, and for another, a lot of it looked individual, despite the fact that lace has been in constant rotation since Miuccia Prada fell for the stuff several years ago. A long, bias-cut peach column gown with black lace appliqués and moonstone cabochons would be stunning on Gaga. But Scognamiglio can do simple, too—case in point: a slightly mannish black blazer worn over a minidress in the same peach lace.
20 September 2011
Francesco Scognamiglio is known for his OTT runway looks, but even Madonna, Gaga, and Anna Dello Russo (fans, all) need to take a day off now and then. With his Resort collection—which is leggy rather than long—he's angling to dress his girls on their down time, too. Madge, especially, might be interested. Scognamiglio revisited some of her own eighties standbys here, from neons to black lace to fishnet. "They remind me of when I was young," said the designer, who just celebrated his 36th birthday in Capri. If Mamma Ciccone isn't interested, then her daughter Lola might be. The emphasis on shorts and minidresses as well as oversize tees wound up giving this outing a more youthful feel than usual. Particularly sweet: a flippy knit dress that was black above the waist and red and black below it, and a chartreuse T-shirt dress with black plastic braiding at the hem that Italians call "scooby-doos." See what we mean about kids' stuff?
28 June 2011
Backstage tonight, Francesco Scognamiglio was feeling energized. "This is my favorite collection in the last ten years," he said. "There's a good energy in my business right now; I did everything with my heart." You could never call Scognamiglio a designer with a commercial mind-set, not with an item like last season's pearl-studded, cream-colored rubber number to his name, but even for him there were pieces here that pushed the boundaries. A keyhole dress that was more keyhole than dress, for one, and a bum-grazing French maid frock in peekaboo black lace, for another. It's with outré looks like those that he's become a favorite with Gaga, Riri, and a superstar who must remain nameless until she shows up at Oscar parties in L.A. this weekend wearing his creations.There was, however, a lot more here than showbiz bait. Yes, Scognamiglio loves kink, but he's not so shabby as a tailor, either. He showed snazzy high-waisted trousers, some featuring sculptural fans of fabric at the hips, and delicate silk blouses that felt very Old Hollywood in their proportions. A pair of strong-shouldered ivory pantsuits, in particular, would've had Joan Crawford itching to ditch Adrian. Same goes for the two long-sleeve gowns with the thigh-high slits: The one Coco Rocha wore was decorated with a gold harness molded to resemble roses and thorns, and Saskia de Brauw's came in ruby red with matching Swarovski crystals. Nothing old-fashioned about a white down jacket with curvilinear quilting and a bold, cocoon shape. It looked not only like an editorial hit but also like a model for a very retail-friendly coat line. That's not just show business, it's good business.
22 February 2011
ForFrancesco Scognamiglio's most high-profile clients—your Lady Gagas, your Rihannas—what mere mortals might consider everyday, to-the-grocery-store wearability isn't really an issue. But businesses cannot live on Gaga alone.So while his Spring and Fall runways are stocked with the kind of rubber dresses and translucent frocks the stars may favor, inter-season, commercial collections are a good place for the designer to adapt his sensibility to the demands of the sales rack. With his pre-fall offering, Scognamiglio mostly succeeds at just that. He borrowed shapes, he said, from the twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties—not that denizens of those decades would easily recognize them. The designer kept things very much in his own oeuvre with tufts of fur, shots of sheer, and a collection of gold Byzantine cross jewelry and accessories, very eighties Material Girl. (Her wild-child fashion antics are at least largely behind her, but one imagines Madonna would've found plenty in Scognamiglio's atelier to love at one point.) Tailored pieces remain a high point. A new print, inspired by the markings of the tiger shark, comes in chiffon and silk jersey gowns, including floor-length ones designed to keep the label's growing Middle Eastern clientele happy. And an abbreviated little skirtsuit in stretch wool crepe—a cropped zip jacket and a high-waisted miniskirt, both covered in ruched floral details—hits a sort of happy medium between ladylike and divaesque. Apparently La Gaga's already requested it. Turns out even she hits the grocery store sometimes.
17 January 2011
Francesco Scognamiglio celebrated his tenth anniversary in a big way, choosing Milan's historic Loggia dei Mercanti as a venue and hiring a prominent international PR company to run the show. There were plenty of first-timers there tonight for this still somewhat under-the-radar designer, and it would have been news to them that the pearl-studded, creamy rubber dress was a reprise from his Fall 2008 show, the gold swan fetish mask a call back to Spring 2010.Backstage, Scognamiglio called the collection "a celebration of my traditions." In addition to those aforementioned hits, there were a pair of rigorously cut tailleurs; an electric purple update of his favored leopard print on a floor-sweeping silk shirtdress; and several micro-minidresses in metallic lace. Statement blouses, a house specialty, came with ruffles circling the throat, coursing down the torso, or tracing the seams of sleeves.Scognamiglio calls his label "rock-à-porter." To prove the point, the last look, a grand gown in black and blush gazar, was a replica of a dress he made for Lady Gaga at the icon's request. Rihanna is another fan of his. If he wants to turn that celebrity cred once and for all into a legit business, he'll have to keep the more perverse elements of his repertoire—i.e., the sheer-at-the-bust blouses, the rubber stuff—in the VIP section of his atelier. What we'd like to see on his runway: more of those little black dresses with a twist (one here came with a clever heart cutout in back), and another one—or ten—of those expertly tailored suits.
21 September 2010
Francesco Scognamiglio has received a lot of press lately for dressing Lady Gaga—not only on the red carpet, but also in her Madonna-esque video for "Alejandro." He's also outfitted her Madgesty, for that matter. The emerging Italian designer is manna for fashion risk takers, but he's playing it safe for Resort, riffing on the season's most popular motifs: cardigans and T-shirt dresses in blue and white marinière stripes and denim sailor pants, with accents of anchors and embroidered crests here and there. There was also a very pretty floral print for a party dress and a matching cardigan. "The inspiration is Capri, which is near my hometown, Pompei," he said. We can't quite make out what a prim white blouse and ankle-scraping black skirt have to do with the Italian vacation spot, but we could see Gaga in them.
27 June 2010
The startlingly weird gold mask that Philip Treacy made for last season's Francesco Scognamiglio show had been replaced by less out-there accent pieces: crystal-encrusted belt buckles in the Boucheron style. Had the designer decided to play it demure and safe? Not exactly. Having recently landed some U.S. accounts, Scognamiglio put a few items on his runway with commercial potential, like a tweedy coat-dress; a black tailleur with the blazer tucked into high-waisted trousers; and strong, on-trend shearling aviator jackets. But there were still plenty of avant-garde goings-on in his well-executed Fall collection.Inspired by the structure of early Azzedine Alaïa, Scognamiglio turned out a series of flared-skirt tank dresses with bold cutouts on the torso. His other point of reference, believe or not, was the fish, which as his show notes explained is a symbol of power, prosperity, and positivity. The sea creatures turned up as sculpted wedge heels on his shoes and as one enormous belt; they also informed the pleated, scalelike texture of a black coat-dress and a mint green blouse, both of which had high, pyramidlike collars that echoed streamlined, aquatic shapes.Backstage, Scognamiglio noted that his brand is ten years old. That's a long time to operate on the fringes of the Milan fashion world, but for the moment he seems content to remain there.
26 February 2010
Francesco Scognamiglio has hired a new international press officer, and more out-of-town editors than ever came to his show, but that didn't mean he was going to ratchet down the kink factor. Not a chance. In his otherwise strong show's most perverse moment, a model strolled the runway in a face-obscuring muzzlelike mask made of three-dimensional gold stars by Philip Treacy. The famous milliner's breast-exposing metal corset was a close second. Citing Madonna, Jennifer Connelly, and Diane Kruger, who've all worn his designs in magazine editorials, Scognamiglio claimed stars as the collection's organizing motif. They appeared as hardware accentuating the already strong shoulders of his jackets, as clusters of glinting crystals encrusting a little top worn with a tulip skirt, and as delicate points of light on a silvery satin skirtsuit.As concepts go, it was a little obvious, too easy. In any case, Scognamiglio's talents lie less in embellishment than they do in cutting and draping. He delivered a few beauties that involved the latter. The black double-satin jersey gowns are just the sort of body-loving but still elegant things that celebrities want to wear on the red carpet.
25 September 2009
A rumor that Alice Dellal would be taking a turn on Francesco Scognamiglio's catwalk raised the buzz level there today. In the end she was a no-show, but the new faces drawn into the crowd were treated to the designer's most retail-ready collection yet. The curious got an eyeful of his tailoring chops and flair for the dramatic blouse (this season with ruffs running down the sleeves), while his followers got an eye-opener: Scognamiglio can really do knits. A black sweater dress laminated with gold had a vintage quality that made it the lineup's most interesting piece.In the not so distant past, Scognamiglio has been guilty of rhinestone-studded latex and see-through plastic pants. This time, a few sheer tops aside, he restricted his more outrageous impulses to the accessories. Heavy gold-studded boots that gave the models a hard time earned him a demerit, while Philip Treacy's absolutely towering gendarme and hussar hats earned him a gold star. This label's profile is likely to continue on the uptick.
1 March 2009
As the kids say, Francesco Sconamiglio has mad skills. He can cut a lean, mean suit with the best of them—but he'll never graduate to the big leagues like his front-row pals Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi have until he turns down the kink factor. The show opened with a respectable-enough cropped ivory jacket; unfortunately, it was worn with see-through plastic trousers. The second look, a coat-dress with an asymmetrical neckline that purposely exposed one breast, was even more risqué. The blouses were lovingly crafted, with spills of ruffles at the throat or, more unusually, with shoulder pads made from feathers—but, again, because they were so sheer, their appeal will be limited.A series of little white dresses (bracelet-sleeved, one-shouldered, or strapless, decorated with sculptural rosettes or ruffles) showed Scognamiglio at his best: just this side of flamboyant, but relevant at retail, too. When he starts thinking more along these lines, he'll start drawing the crowds that his technique deserves.
21 September 2008
If you looked past the fetish-y, rhinestone-studded, cream-colored latex, there was plenty to admire in Milan up-and-comer Francesco Scognamiglio's show. Nodding in the direction of Yves Saint Laurent's late-sixties/early-seventies heyday and displaying a deft hand for couturelike cuts, Scognamiglio sent out bell-shaped coat-dresses in stiff gold brocade or boiled wool; slim-line suits in black or ivory with puffed shoulders and flaring, deeply cuffed legs; and silky blouses with exuberant bows spilling down their fronts. More up-to-date were his silk or nylon puffer jackets, especially the ones lined in fox. When it came to after-dark, an ankle-grazing, lavender silk shantung dress with a spray of crystals decorating the asymmetric shoulder line was almost regal, while a short and strapless number in the same material was primed for the nightclub dance floor. If forced to choose between the demure and the louche, Scognamiglio would seem to lean toward the latter—the clue was not only in that latex but also in the thigh-high crocodile boots. These were a less obvious, but still kinky, touch that kept the collection from looking like a nostalgia trip, and more like a sexy bit of fun.
15 February 2008