In Milan’s hyper-luxury retail ecosystem, where Via Montenapoleone now holds the same touristic appeal as the Duomo, Carolina Castiglioni isn’t playing by the rules. Instead of joining the velvet rope parade, she opened a cooler, more art-driven space on nearby Via Manzoni, a street once synonymous with chic bourgeois shopping, later dulled by banks and mid-tier stores, and now awaiting a comeback. Her Plan C collections are set against a luscious, lacquered red space anchored by a spiraling staircase, while downstairs is a room devoted to art installations, exhibitions, talks, and whatever other collaborative efforts she decides to dream up next.
Castiglioni is no stranger to artistic crossovers, coming from a lineage of collectors and art devotees, not least her mother Consuelo, the founder and former creative director of Marni, who put the brand on the international fashion map with its cerebral, artsy eccentricity. This season, Castiglioni teased her next creative alliance by staging the lookbook amid Franco Mazzucchelli’s oversized abstract inflatables. The Milanese artist, active since the 1960s and still at work, scatters his monumental pieces across the city in a sort of public-art gesture, inviting passersby to scribble, paint, and play freely on the artworks. Mazzucchelli will also soon be the guest artist at the Plan C store.
Over the years, Castiglioni has loosened her grip on the utilitarian, workwear-inflected rigor that marked her label’s early days. In its place now is a softer mood and a slyer sense of play, though her trademark tomboy streak remains intact. Still rooted in a masculine-feminine push-and-pull, she dialed up a note of bourgeois gloss this season, flirting with a kind of vintage ladylike chic, and an ironic sense of formality that she called “couture vibe.”
Oversized bombers were casually slung over pouf-y mini crinolines in candy shades, crafted in crisp duchesse; an almost monastic black dress was finished with a detachable feather trim. Brooches pinned shearling stoles just so, while the sleeves of a pristine white chemise were tucked into emphatic, opera-length gloves.
The mostly unisex collection played with gently sculpted silhouettes that slipped into hybrid territory, like a grisaille tailored bomber whose masculine collar was offset by a front lavishly embroidered with silver mirrored sequins. Utilitarian at heart but dressed up with quirky polish, the clothes captured a relaxed, artsy mood that jibes with l’air du temps.