Mila Schön Fall/Winter 23-24 Collection
Italian brand Mila Schön makes a return, newly under the creative direction of designer Marc Audibet. The Fall/Winter 2023-2024 collection “Intelligent Elegance” presents new ideas while simplicity remains the focus.
Doubled Fabrics
Audibet channels the brand’s founder Mila Schön, who died in 2008, utilizing double-faced fabrics. Where Schön often experimented with doubled wool, Audibet incorporates double-faced stretch fibres as well. In fact, a large number of pieces in the collection are doubled — including cashmere dresses and jackets, and buttonless cardigans. A standout is a brown wool coat double-faced with sea-green fabric, rather than using traditional lining. The tall and slender silhouettes of the garments add extra length to whoever is wearing them.
Reductionism
The collection also focuses on the Latin concept of “reductionism” which uses subtraction to achieve simplicity from complex ideas. In this case, the clothing captures the essence of fundamental shapes and forms that sustain a body in motion. Mostly, neutral-colored garments with little to no embellishments take on elegant silhouettes instead. In the eyes of Audibet, simplicity derives from “meticulous and precise construction” that deviates “as far away as possible from extreme consumerism” as the show notes state.
Accessories
The brand introduces a handbag called “Shadow” as part of the collection. Like the clothing, the bag is simple, yet, unique with curved edges and a classic black leather finish.
Behind The Brand
When designer Mila Schön was unable to afford luxury clothes, she had replicas made by a seamstress. Eventually, she would launch her own brand in 1958. At the time, Schön’s designs were futuristic, employing geometric cuts and shapes. Like Audibet, Schön “envisioned a wardrobe for an international, demanding, and refined clientele,” whose models were “the essence of simplicity.” In 2019, the brand debuted its Spring collection with Gunn Johansson as its new Creative Director, where Audibet now sits at the helm.
Featured image courtesy of the brand