Spring 2011 Milan Fashion Week

>> Douglas Song, an executive at US private equity firm Prodos, which has emerged as the final bidder for Gianfranco Ferre, attended the label's fashion show on Friday. Prodos, together with Samsung, has made a binding offer of just more than €10 million ($13.5 million) for the brand, which went into bankruptcy protection last year. The Italian government is expected to make a final decision on the offer within two weeks' time.

It is understood that of the five bidders for Ferre since the auction process launched in June, Prodos and Samsung prevailed because of their deep pockets, vital for the expensive relaunch of the brand which has struggled since the death of its namesake designer three years ago. Already, Ferre has pulled out of many markets; in the US, only Bergdorf Goodman still sells it.

As part of the deal, Prodos has committed to keep the company's 150 employees; sources indicate the new owners also plan to open stores in Asia through franchise partners. As for the Ferre's current designers, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi, whose expensive designs place the brand in competition with the likes of Chanel, it is unclear whether they will stay.

As the Wall Street Journal wrote of the just-shown Spring 2011 Ferre collection: "The challenge for Ferre’s new owners will be to build up a new following for this tarnished house. They may need to start with less-expensive clothing than what was shown Friday." And Style.com noted: "In general, this collection didn't have the distinctive point of view you expect not only from these designers, but also from one of Milan's once major houses."

>> Roberto Cavalli celebrated his 40th anniversary show today in Milan with a spectacular venue — the 19th-century marble Arco Della Pace — and an equally stellar cast: Erin Wasson, Laetitia Casta, who closed, and Natalia Vodianova, who opened.

Cavalli is reportedly paying Vodianova between 50,000 and 70,000 euros ($67,000 to $94,000) for both her runway appearance and her attendance at his gala dinner and bash on Sept. 29 at L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, a party which is said to be costing the designer over $2 million.

Cavalli, who turns 70 on Nov. 15, has seen his become a family business over the years: his 51-year-old wife, Eva, serves as creative director and drives the brand's image, selecting models, overseeing the ad campaigns, styling and staging the catwalk. And of their three children, Rachele, 28, collaborates with her parents on the brand's accessories, and Daniele, 24, works with Roberto and Eva on the men's collections.

Although there have been rumors of strife between Roberto and Eva in recent years, they are still apparently close and dependent on one another. As Roberto puts it, when you work together all day every day, "you bring your work-related problems and troubles into the bedroom."

>> Raf Simons seems to hold the honor of electrifying the fashion audience the most thus far this Spring 2011 season. Suzy Menkes wrote of his Jil Sander collection: "This was a show that projected fashion into this new decade." Vogue UK lauded: "And in the space of 15 minutes, Raf Simons stole the show. The Jil Sander collection this afternoon did just what he does so well: make everybody forget everything they’ve seen before by giving them brilliantly conceived, complete distraction."

Joe Zee Tweeted: "I think Raf Simons has officially made me a color convert with his Jil Sander collection. So incredibly major! With a capital M," later replying "COSIGN" to Kelly Cutrone's Tweet: "Fashion Prediction: Raf for Jill Sander - show stopper - Takes the season." The Los Angeles Times's Booth Moore agreed: "At Jil Sander, designer Raf Simons' extreme color story packed more of a punch than almost anything else we'd seen so far this season."

WWD called the collection "extraordinary" and "fantastic," and Cathy Horyn wrote: "Mr. Simons has shown some exceptional collections at Jil in the past five years, but in this one he dealt more assuredly with the fundamentals of fashion — shape, volume, proportion, new materials — and pushed past the old frontiers to create a new example of minimalist dressing . . . Reaction to the show seemed very enthusiastic, with an immediate burst of applause at the end."

>> Yesterday, Versus hit the runway for the first time in over a decade, under the creative direction of Christopher Kane. “To restore Versus like it used to be means to bring this collection once again on the catwalk, to show in a proper location and in a proper town, and to intrigue the VIP,” Donatella Versace told W. “And it will keep getting bigger and bigger. But not too big. Not yet. Because we are not ready. If you do it big, then you’ve got to do it big. I never really gave Christopher a proper party before either, but I will.”

The Spring 2011 collection, shown against a playground backdrop with a soundtrack of children at play, prompted the Wall Street Journal to write of Kane and Versace's professional relationship: "It was hard not to look at Versus and wonder who [between Versace and Kane] is influencing whom.  Spokesman Tomaso Galli insists Mr. Kane is the understudy. I asked if Mr. Kane consulted on the Versace collection. 'No. Not at all,' Mr. Galli said firmly. 'Not at all.'"

But that doesn't mean that Kane won't be working on the Versace collection one day. When W asked if she could see Kane heading up the house, Donatella replies without hesitation: “At the moment Versus is enough. But I can see him there, yes. For sure.”

Between now and then, however, Kane may have to change his laissez-faire attitude towards celebrity clientele — they are part of the brand DNA. The Versace show was delayed on Friday for more than 45 minutes waiting for January Jones to arrive, whereas Kane once cordially told Victoria Beckham no when she asked for a dress to be sent. “Yes, but let’s get this straight,” explains Kane. “I’ve got nothing against her. I think she’s really great. I think she’s really beautiful. I just wasn’t in a position to gift celebrities at that point. So in the end she bought it.”

>> Claudia Schiffer took four months off after having her third child, Cosima, in May, but it seems she's ready to get back to work. While sitting front row at Salvatore Ferragamo over the weekend, she let drop that like Jefferson Hack, she's launching her own fashion line at an event next month. The collection will bow for Winter 2011. [WWD]

>> Bottega Veneta is offering a livestream of its show for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 9:30 am EST, but they're not taking the democratic approach that usually goes along with such a move. Instead, the livestream is invitation-only and offered specifically to top costumers or invited guests unable to travel to Milan. Post-show, those viewers will receive a digital lookbook and be able to reserve the Spring 2011 merchandise immediately after on the brand's website. “Our goal is to put this technology to the service of our customers,” explains creative director Tomas Maier on the press release. “We would like to share the excitement and beauty of the live runway show with them, and to do so within the privacy and calm of the Bottega Veneta environment.”