lifestyle TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014

Features

Models present creations for Prada fashion house as part of the Menswear Spring-Summer 2015 collection during the Salvatore Ferragamo Men’s fashion week in Milan.— AP/ AFP Milan fashion designers say: ‘Go ahead and relax’ o ahead and relax: Next season’s menswear fashion will menswear collection for next summer seems almost to deny be easy to wear and at times even athletic without the traditional tailoring that created it. Massimiliano Giornetti Grequiring, or necessarily even inspiring, actual exertion defined the silhouette as “light” and “deconstructed,” and said on the part of the wearer. Sportswear has inspired many looks he used fine Italian fabrics as the starting point for his inspira- showing up on the Milan runway during Milan Fashion Week, tion. “Everything has been overprinted to create a kind of new on its second day Sunday. Jackets are a mainstay and run the silhouette that is extremely light, extremely modern and gamut from longer overcoats to short bombers. Trousers are fresh,” he said. A giraffe pattern provides a light-hearted just as easily pleated as cropped and close-fitting. Bermudas motive to jacket linings, cheekily visible on rolled-up sleeves. are the shorts of choice. As if to emphasize the fluidity of the looks, the color that Favorite shoes are sturdy sandals, snug, sure-footed slip- unites the collection is an aqueous blue-green, which match- ons and high-top sneakers. Still, this being luxury fashion, the es soothingly with earthier tones of rust, gray, brown and outfits are intended for urban exposure and not rugged beige. The collection centers on sportswear, with a variety of adventure.While Day 1 featured an explosion of color, design- jackets from longer overcoats, double-breasted jackets that ers on the second day of fashion previews seemed to favored are slightly cropped, short belted blazers and blousons that paler, washed-out shades. High-tech fabrics give a low-fuss function as a baseball jacket. They are worn with double pleat- look, where crinkles and wrinkles are part of the garment’s ed trousers or loose-fitting Bermudas. appeal. Milan Fashion Week continues through today, before the fashion crowd moves on to Paris. Reclaimed treasures Bottega Veneta’s lovingly distressed looks for next summer Prada classics are like old treasures rediscovered. The looks have a relaxed At Prada, nothing says summer like classic denim looks and feel, from the loose-fitting sweaters that drape the body casu- an azure blue swimming pool. Miuccia Prada said she decided ally, to crinkled linen suits with pants that gather at the knee that conservative looks “were the only new thing possible,” as if pushed up to wade into the surf. These looks are not only also given that the times - certainly in Italy, which is still look- are fit for a wind-swept beach, but they evoke a natural wear- ing to get out of the economic doldrums - require “serious- and-tear that goes with only the most durable and most-loved ness.” wardrobe pieces. The collection’s foundation was classic denim looks with Designer Tomas Maier employs various kinds of stitching top-stitching, the only embellishment, for a 1970s vibe. “Prada to build the appearance of natural wear-and-tear into the classics,” the designer dubbed it. Prada kept the elements sim- architecture of the pieces, including frayed elbows. Athletic ple, from the color palate of blue, brown, dark green and wear is soft, with comfortable leggings and wide-legged beige, to the clean lines of the jackets, trench coats and blaz- shorts. Maier said he wanted “to convey a certain freedom, ers. Most looks were finished with a simple, light blue shirt - athleticism and ease.”—AP reflecting the azure waters of a swimming pool with white columns created by Rem Koolhaas’ architecture firm at the center of the showroom.

Italian tailoring deconstructed The relaxed silhouette of the Salvatore Ferragamo Bottega Veneta art exhibit in Japan salvaged by name fix

n exhibition of Chinese art from Taiwan has opened as close ties with Taiwan, which has full diplomatic relations with planned after the Tokyo National Museum revised pro- only 23 countries, most of them in Latin America, Africa, and Amotional materials that had omitted the word “National” the south Pacific. “The upcoming exhibition in Japan of some from references to ’s National . Taiwan is of Taiwan’s most treasured collections of antiques would have sensitive to how other governments portray it, and last week been a perfect example of cultural exchange if not for a row its first lady, Christine Chou, canceled a trip to Tokyo for the over the name of the Taipei-based museum that owns the exhibition. But yesterday, the Taiwanese museum’s director items,” the Taiwan newspaper The China Post said in an editori- accepted an apology from the Tokyo museum’s curator at an al. It noted that the word “national” in the Taipei museum’s opening ceremony for the exhibition, whose centerpiece is a name indicates it is a government-run museum. “We are disap- lustrous white and green cabbage carved of jadeite. “I believe pointed at the Tokyo museum,” it said. Staff at the Tokyo muse- this will suffice to restore the positive sentiment toward Japan um would not give a reason for the original incorrect refer- among the Taiwan people,” said the Taiwan museum’s director, ences in the posters for the exhibit. Feng Ming-chu. She said the past two or three days had been Masami Zeniya, executive director of the Tokyo museum, “regrettable,” but added that once the problem with the name acknowledged having “upset” the Taiwanese with the misnam- was fixed the exhibition could proceed. ing. “We take this matter very seriously and made the correc- “The most important thing is trust, sincerity and mutual tions immediately,” he said. “We would like to apologize for respect,” she said. The houses many causing trouble.” The exhibition opens to the public today. The treasures taken to Taiwan when the Nationalists fled there from jadeite cabbage will return to Taiwan in two weeks, as planned, mainland China during a civil war in 1949. China still claims but 200 other items will be on display until the exhibition Taiwan as its own territory. moves in September to the Kyushu National Museum on the island of Kyushu. — AP Apologize for causing trouble A woman looks at the square sandalwood curio box with multiple treasures of displayed in Tokyo during a Japan formally recognizes mainland China but also has press preview of the exhibition of ‘Treasured Masterpieces from the National Palace Museum Taipei’ yesterday.

The Jadeite Cabbage sculpture, measuring 18.7-centimeter (7.4-inch)-high and 9.1-cm (3.6 in)-wide, is displayed. —AP photos

A man looks at the imperial stone seals with animal design knobs of Qing Dynasty.