NEWS AND UPDATES

Reporting from Milan — So far, Milan Fashion Week has been a bust celebrity-wise (at least American ones — Dolce & Gabbana had a laundry list of boldface names I didn’t recognize). The sole exception so far seems to be Chris Brown, who has popped up in a couple of different places, including a private Missoni dinner on Friday night, and in the front row at Costume National Homme, where he obligingly posed for photos both for press and fans — by my count some six or seven groups of people approached and asked if they could get their picture taken with him.

I recall seeing him during at least one previous men’s fashion week, and when I crossed paths with him briefly exiting the Missoni event, he said he was attending a handful of shows this season both here and in Paris. “I might check out some of the couture shows in Paris too,” he told me. (The couture shows in Paris currently follow the men’s fashion week there.)

When asked if he was looking forward to any show in particular, he singled out the the Moncler Gamme Bleu show (a collaboration between the French maker of the shiny ski parkas worn by every other person on the streets of Milan and American designer Thom Browne).

“So are we going to be seeing you in one of those puffy ski jackets next season, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said before stepping into his waiting car and heading off into the Milan night.

This afternoon, I found myself seated next to the 20-year-old singer at the Vivienne Westwood show, which was inspired, the designer said in her notes, by the “roving vagabonds” of the 1978-79 U.K. “winter of discontent” (more on the show in an upcoming post). Brown was wearing a pair of black-and-white plaid/polka-dot shoes, which could only be Vivienne Westwood. I’ve included a snap not only because they’re sweet-looking kicks (click on the photo to see a larger version), but also because they made a great juxtaposition against the “homeless-chic” cardboard that covered the floors.

SOURCE: LA TImes