Rosy cheeks took on another meaning in Milan. From hiked-up thongs to butt cleavage on the runway, fashion’s fixation on the backside has been building for a while. But Diesel pushed it one step further with deliberately blushed bottoms that felt absurd, amusing and, interestingly, right on brand
Last week I spotted my first hiked-up thong in the wild since the mid-to-late 2000s. I was heading into the city, descending the subway escalator, when a woman strode past in the lowest-slung pair of jeans I’ve seen since McQueen’s original bumsters. I stopped dead. Mesmerised. A black Calvin Klein g-string sat high above the preposterously low waistband, drifting slowly out of sight as the escalator carried her away while I remained frozen on the platform.
My emotional state as a millennial who still occasionally frets about love handles? Confused. Slightly alarmed.
Then there was Kate Moss walking for Gucci in Milan. A 1997 throwback to Tom Ford's Gucci G-string I didn't expect to see this season. I really should have known better, as butt cleavage has been making its slow-but-steady comeback on red carpets (thank you Haley Bieber). Alexa, cue 'The Thong Song' by Sisqó.
But Diesel took the cake this season. Pun intended. After all, nothing quite prepares you for the sight of deliberately blushed buttocks on a major runway.
Glenn Martens’ tried-and-tested morning-after narrative was pushed to a new, lower location. The collection, he said, was about “waking up in a place, with no idea what happened last night” and sneaking away from a stranger’s hotel room as “the most glorious person ever”. The clothes looked crumpled, half-undone, a little like they had been gathered from the floor. The beauty followed suit. “The colour looks almost as if it was applied and then slightly wiped away, leaving just small marks,” key makeup artist Inge Grognard explained. “It’s not about a glamorous, perfectly blended makeup, it feels more instinctive, more lived-in.”