CR Runway x LuisaViaRoma closes Pitti Uomo in style

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jun 14, 2019

Around 7 PM the first guests began making their way towards the Piazzale Michelangelo, a promontory overlooking Florence and the Arno which would be overflowing with people by the end of the night. It seemed like all of Florence and anyone who's anyone in the fashion world had turned out on Thursday evening to watch CR Runway x LuisaViaRoma, the unprecedented show organised on the fringe of Pitti Uomo by Carine Roitfeld to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the famous boutique, LuisaViaRoma. 

As the VIPs – including Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, Virgil Abloh, designers Ermanno Daelli and Toni Scervino, Eva Cavalli and her son Robert, Laudomia Pucci, and Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini – sipped champagne and admired the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore as it was outlined by the setting sun, the bleachers set up around the square gradually filled up with more than 3,500 guests. 

90 looks, 50 labels, 60 top models, including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Eva Herzigova, Mariacarla Boscono and Irina Shayk: these are just some of the impressive figures from this monster event which has been a full year in the making. It took 1,000 people and a month to set up and, if local press reports are to be believed, cost more than 5 million euros – a bill footed by LuisaViaRoma CEO Andrea Panconesi. 

Finally, at 9:50 PM an aria, performed by a singer positioned at the end of the runway, just in front of the area reserved for celebrities, marked the start of the show, calling the first models out onto the long catwalk, where they strutted under the stony gaze of the copy of Michelangelo's David that looks over the Piazzale. 

It was an XXL show for which the former editor-in-chief of Vogue France had selected her favourite pieces from the men's and womenswear collections of some 50 brands for Autumn/Winter 2019. Labels included Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Burberry, Dior, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Givenchy, Gucci, Heron Preston, Junya Watanabe, Marc Jacobs, Margiela, Moschino, Off-White, Olivier Theyskens, Prada, Rick Owens, Richard Quinn, Thom Browne, Tom Ford, Valentino, Versace, Vetements, Vivienne Westwood and Yohji Yamamoto, to name only the best known among them. 

Each of these brands presented a maximum of two full looks, some of which had been thought up especially for the show, with all pieces going on sale on the CR Runway mini-website. The unique selection put glamour and a very 90s take on sex appeal centre stage, with thigh-high boots, latex, dresses with trains, and fur for the ladies, while velvet or street-style suits were the order of the day for the gents. 

The rhinestone and sequin-spangled celebration of fashion closed with a concert given by Lenny Kravitz, while the pleasures of the after-show party were reserved for designers and special brand guests, who were invited to a gala dinner held at a villa in a neighbouring park, lit up against the night sky for the occasion.