Designers Hit GQ Bash in Milan

Does fashion week stoke the appetite? Certainly food was on the minds of some designers and other fashion folk who headed to Saturday night’s GQ bash at Asola, a bar and restaurant on the ninth floor of Milan’s Brian and Barry department store.

Angela Missoni, who just returned from a trip across India with her partner Bruno Ragazzi, expressed admiration for the country’s beauty and vibrant colors. “I hope to make more trips this year,” she said, while noting there’s plenty to discover in her native country. “We have so much in Italy, even outside Milan and between Milan and Venice, you could spend two months exploring… And the food, every 20 kilometers you find a new specialty.”

Italian cuisine was also on the mind of Francesco Missoni, Angela’s son, who has been working on a cookbook of about 100 family recipes. “It’s a look inside our house. We have this tradition of getting everybody together for lunch or dinner, normally at grandma’s house,” he explained, ticking off the ingredients needed to make vignarola, a traditional Italian vegetable stew. For Neil Barrett, 2015 marks the end of a five-year battle with Italy’s infamously plodding bureaucracy. “I’ve been waiting on the Italian authorities for years to give me permission to build my building, and finally, it’s almost ready. It’s like, 80 percent ready. In the spring we’re moving in,” the designer said, noting his brand’s new offices will be adjacent to the Dsquared2 space on Via Ceresio. Louis-Marie de Castelbajac, in charge of Salvatore Ferragamo’s social media channels for the week, confessed to feeling “a bit intimidated” by the power bestowed upon him. “They have some 250,000 followers. I was trying to put some kinky pictures on there, but…,” joked the French entrepreneur, who produces Armagnac.

Costume National’s Ennio Capasa started 2015 with a southern California jaunt, having recently teamed up with Marina Abramović for an interactive performance there. “The year started out with this amazing energy of Los Angeles,” Capasa said, noting that more artistic collaborations are on his agenda throughout the coming months, as well as store openings in Iran, Oman and China.

Kean Etro said he has his sights set on Asia. “In China, we will open five or six new shops this year,” he said, citing further expansion plans for Japan and Korea. Brioni creative director Brendan Mullane was in the final preparation stages for the label’s first runway show in many years, which will be held Monday night at Milan’s Castello Sforzesco. “Is it normal that I don’t feel kind of stressed a day and a half before the show?” he mused. “I’m more super excited, and that’s maybe killed all the stress.”