The Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan’s pre-eminent gallery of public art, contains a wide selection of works by Italy’s finest old masters. In its central courtyard, however, is installed something else: a bombastic bronze statue of Napoleon that dates from the French occupation at the turn of the 19th century. This piece of propaganda portrays Bonaparte as a heroically semi-naked god of war: Mars “The Peacemaker.” Antonio Canova wisely applied the most flattering filter he could while sculpting it, so much so that Napoleon’s bare bronze bottom is one of the most-posted images from this treasure house of renaissance inventions, which today played host to the Sportmax spring collection.
Once the show started you suspected the word sculptural had been bandied around the studio back in Reggio Emilia. Jersey dresses were hung from curtain cord collars to undulate down the front of the body while leaving the back—although not the full Napoleon—open to the elements. There were some fine 2D tunic dresses, very long, with deep V necklines. Inevitably there were some underwear as outerwear looks. As last season there were a few outfits in which the topside of pants were volumized in order to create a contrasting hyper-slimness in the waistlines above.
Weirder moments included the clear plastic totes in which were carried a liter or two of water, and a semi-opaque lavender dress with a section of fringed clear beads that were held within the garment: This look appeared a challenge to walk in. The stronger looks tended to have one notable elaboration, like the penultimate black fringed dress whose straps wended over the shoulders way down to around the hips. This was a generally fine Sportmax collection, but it remains frustrating that a studio with such great resources and expertise is not dedicated to more purposeful practice.
