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NEW YORK — Beyonce is the most decorated artist in Grammys history, and her album releases have both triggered cultural earthquakes and reshaped music industry norms.

But few artists have ever been snubbed so conspicuously by the Recording Academy -- for all her trailblazing accomplishments, Beyonce has never won the prestigious prizes for best album or record.

Once again on Sunday, she will head to the Grammys gala with the most chances to win, after "Cowboy Carter" -- her genre-spanning, sociopolitically charged conversation piece of an album -- dropped last spring to critical acclaim.

It earned her a fifth nomination for Album of the Year: in years past, she has lost to Taylor Swift, Beck, Adele and, most recently, Harry Styles.

As for Record of the Year, this is her ninth shot at a golden gramophone.

And in a glaringly consistent pattern, nearly all of Beyonce's losses have been to white pop and rock artists.

"If she wins the Album of the Year category for 'Cowboy Carter,' it would be -- for me, personally -- similar to when Barack Obama won the presidency," said Birgitta Johnson, a professor of African American studies and music history at the University of South Carolina.

To explain the parallel, Johnson said that upon Obama's victory, "as a Black person in America... I was totally shocked."

'Fault lines' 

For Johnson, Grammy voters tend to dismiss collaborative projects, which is Beyonce's bread and butter: the megastar showcases Black music and traditions while elevating fellow artists.

Musicologist Lauron Kehrer seconded that point, citing Beyonce's 2015 loss to Beck for Album of the Year; the chatter afterwards was that while Beyonce worked with a team, Beck put the album together himself.

Voter "values have been more aligned with white-dominated genres like rock and alternative", said Kehrer.

"When we look at pop and R&B and other genres, they take a more collaborative approach -- but that approach to collaboration hasn't really been valued by Grammy voters."

Kehrer said Beyonce's career is emblematic of "fault lines in how organisations think about style and think about genre, especially around race and gender lines".

And though the Grammys have increased the number of contenders in the top categories -- it used to be five, was bumped to 10, and is currently eight -- in a bid to promote diversity, the change has actually meant votes are split to a degree that people of color and less conventional artists still rarely win.

"All those things are coming into play when it comes to Beyonce, this iconic global star that keeps missing this particular brass ring," Johnson said.

No 'one-trick pony' 

Beyonce's work is difficult to define -- beyond the top categories, her 11 Grammy nominations this year span Americana, country, pop and rap.

She has previously scooped awards for dance and electronic music.

"She refuses to be a one-trick pony," Kehrer said.

"It does feel like 'Cowboy Carter' especially was a project to show, among other things, that she's a versatile artist who can't be pigeon-holed, and to kind of force institutions in the industry to pay attention to that."

Beyonce has thus challenged the Recording Academy to keep up with her by improving on its categorization of music to better reflect industry trends -- something that the Grammy organizers have indeed endeavoured to do.

In the end, the Grammys need Beyonce a whole lot more than she needs the Grammys, Johnson says.

Her touch is vital to the gala "so they can seem not only relevant, but as inclusive as they claim they have been trying to be", she told AFP.

'Litmus test' 

As for winning prizes, if that were Beyonce's primary concern, she would write music tailored for that, Johnson notes.

Instead, "she's trying to do more work around narratives and identity," the professor said.

"She's one of those rare artists who are free creatively, but also has the wealth to propel her vision."

That vision trickles down to the artists who routinely win the big prizes, Johnson said, pointing to Grammys darling Billie Eilish as an example of how younger generations take inspiration from Beyonce to work across genres.

Ultimately, even if Queen Bey doesn't need institutional approval, wins matter for fans -- and, in turn, representation.

"It's hard to get around the fact that it's such a significant recognition," Kehrer said, calling the Grammys a "litmus test for where we are on race and genre in the music industry".

PARIS — Home-made hit "Monte Cristo" topped the nominations released Wednesday for the Cesars, France's version of the Oscars, followed closely by international awards season frontrunner "Emelia Perez".

"Monte Cristo", a high-budget French adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' epic novel "The Count of Monte Cristo", was the second most-watched film in French cinemas last year and leads the Cesars nominations with 14.

Lead actor Pierre Niney is the frontrunner in the best actor category, but faces competition from Francois Civil who starred in the surprise French comedy hit of the year, "Un p'tit truc en plus" ("A Little Something Extra").

The film about a father and son who go to work in a holiday camp for people with disabilities topped the French 2024 box office and picked up 13 nominations.

"Emilia Perez", directed by Frenchman Jacques Audiard and the most-nominated film for the Oscars, was picked in 12 categories for the Cesars, including best film and best director.

The surreal musical odyssey about a narco boss who transitions to life as a woman shattered the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language film last week with 13 Oscar nominations.

It was also the second-most nominated film for Britain's BAFTA awards, according to the shortlist unveiled on January 15, behind Vatican thriller "Conclave".

The Cesars will be handed out in Paris on February 28 marking the 50th anniversary of the awards.

Winners are picked by the 4,951 members of the Cesars academy.

WASHINGTON —The "doomsday clock," symbolizing how close humanity is to destruction, ticked one second closer to midnight Tuesday — the closest it has been, as concerns escalated on nuclear war and climate change, amplified by disinformation.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the clock at the start of the Cold War, shifted the clock to 89 seconds to midnight, a week after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

The clock was last moved to 90 seconds to midnight over nuclear-armed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was originally placed at seven minutes to midnight in 1947.

"At 89 seconds to midnight, the doomsday clock stands closer to catastrophe than at any moment in its history," said former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders, a group of major former leaders, as he presented the findings by a board of experts.

"The clock speaks to the existential threats that confront us and the need for unity and bold leadership to turn back its hands," he told a news conference in Washington.

Just days into his second presidency, Trump has already shattered norms on international cooperation

Santos welcomed Trump's pledges for diplomacy with Russia and China, but condemned his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and World Health Organisation.

The experts warned of the worsening impact to the planet of climate change after another record-breaking year of high temperatures.

Santos also called for "urgent actions" to tackle disinformation "and the amplifications of conspiracy theories that have become so prevalent in our hyper-connected online world".

"This alarming rise in distrust is being fueled in large part by the malicious and reckless use of new technologies we do not yet fully understand," he said.

SHANTOU, China — Flinging her male teammate into the air, performer Lin Xinmeng practises China's world-famous lion dance with a troupe that is shrugging off centuries of patriarchal norms.

Mixing acrobatics, martial arts and theatre, lion dancing is believed to bring prosperity and protection from evil spirits.

Performed across China and around the world, at weddings or during business openings, it is a mainstay of Lunar New Year celebrations, which begin on Wednesday.

"I discovered this dance one day by chance in the street. I found it super graceful," Lin, 18, told AFP in the courtyard of a temple in the southern Chinese city of Shantou, where her troupe trains.

"The tenacity of the dancers, their ability to perform these movements, impressed me. I wanted to become like them," she said.

Inside a costume consisting of a large, colourful lion head and a long, silky piece of fabric representing the body, dancers must work in tandem to bring the animal to life.

It can be tough on dancers' bodies, with one performer often required to lift the other by the waist to simulate the beast jumping on its hind legs.

That physical exertion, coupled with deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes, has long resulted in women being excluded from the tradition.

But Lin Likun -- the troupe's 31-year-old coach -- said the presence of women made the lion dancing show more "enjoyable" and means more people can pass on "this intangible heritage".

"We are constantly looking for ways to innovate, to breathe new vitality into lion dance," he said.

"It also allows us to reflect women's aspirations," he added, even if some give up along the way because of the physical demands.

Rejecting patriarchy

The troupe, called Lingdong, counts about 80 members aged between 13 to 33, most of them school students.

Around 20 of them are women.

While the presence of young women in the troupe elicits "mostly positive" feedback, Lin acknowledges that there has been some "mockery" and "negative reactions".

"Some old-timers think that women should stay at home and do housework. But our generation has a different view," he said.

"We believe in equality between men and women."

A growing number of Chinese women are rejecting the rigidity of traditional obligations imposed by their parents, who expect them to marry and have children young.

The cultural shift has been accompanied by the stardom of tennis player Zheng Qinwen, a champion at last year's Paris Olympics, and the critical success of the Chinese film "Her Story", which addresses gender inequality in contemporary society.

"Some say that a girl can't lead a lion. But it's my passion and it's up to me alone to take it on," said performer Lin Xinmeng.

"I want to surpass myself, to show that girls are not necessarily less good than boys," she explained.

'Masculine strength, feminine grace'

Lin goes jogging, squats and weight trains to prepare herself for the most physically demanding parts of the dance.

She sees the participation of women and girls as a way "to combine masculine strength and feminine grace".

Another girl in the troupe, Dong Zidan, has 45,000 followers on the social network Douyin, China's version of TikTok, where she regularly shares content about lion dancing.

"I hope to encourage more girls to participate in our customs and pass on this intangible heritage," she said.

Coach Lin's next project is to have as many girls as boys in his team.

He will then try to create an all-women troupe -- a distant goal given the challenges that persist.

"The facts will prove that girls can assert themselves just as much as men," he insisted.

"Whether in lion dancing or in daily life."

LONDON — The British Museum said it had closed a number of exhibits after a fired IT contractor "shut down" some of its systems, in one of several unrelated incidents targeting European museums on Saturday.

The London venue, one of the UK capital's biggest tourist draws and best known for housing the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles, said police had arrested the suspect.

"An IT contractor who was dismissed last week trespassed into the museum and shut down several of our systems," a museum spokesman said.

"We are working hard to get the museum back to being fully operational but with regret our temporary exhibitions have been closed today and will remain so over the weekend."

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the Drents Museum in Assen said it was closed for the weekend after robbers used explosives to break in and steal three antique bracelets and a gold helmet.

Police were alerted to an explosion early Saturday, with the thieves stealing the golden helmet of Cotofenesti, dating from the mid-fifth century BC, the museum said on its website.

The helmet -- the centrepiece of a temporary exhibition -- was on loan from Romania's National History Museum in Bucharest.

And in Paris, the world-famous Orsay Museum was forced to disable its own ticketing system for several hours Friday after falling victim to a fraudulent scheme involving "mirror sites", it told AFP Saturday.

The museum, home to works by Vincent van Gogh and other master painters, was alerted Friday that visitors trying to buy tickets online were being redirected without realising it to bogus ticket sales websites.

After suspending online ticketing services for some of Friday, operations were back to normal on Saturday, it said.

'Further enquiries' 

A spokesperson for London's Metropolitan police said officers responded to the British Museum late Thursday following reports that a man on-site had "caused damage" to its security and IT systems.

Police arrested the man in his 50s at the scene on suspicion of burglary and criminal damage. He has been bailed "pending further enquiries," the spokesperson added.

Part of the museum's permanent collection was also closed Friday following the incident, Britain's Press Association news agency reported.

A message on the museum's website Saturday stated that it was "open but due to an IT infrastructure issue some galleries have had to be closed".

It added this meant "capacity will be limited, and priority will be given to members and pre-booked ticket-holders".

The incident is the latest embarrassing security lapse for the museum after allegations emerged in 2023 that a former employee was suspected of selling items stolen from its vast collection.

About 1,800 objects were disclosed as missing or stolen in August 2023.

The museum dismissed a staff member suspected of involvement in what it called "an inside job", and alerted police who have interviewed a person but made no arrests.

Hundreds of the items have since been recovered.

Following a furore around that scandal, Hartwig Fischer, the director of the museum at the time, resigned.

After a temporary head was appointed, Nicholas Cullinan -- who was previously in charge of the National Portrait Gallery — took over the role last year.

PARK CITY, United States — The Oscar nominations were unveiled on Thursday, with Netflix's "Emilia Perez" leading the charge on a whopping 13 nods.

Here are five takeaways from the 97th Academy Awards nominations announcement:

Progressive Hollywood 

The United States may have swung to the political right by re-electing President Donald Trump and putting the Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress, but Tinseltown's progressive politics were on full display on Thursday.

Frontrunner "Emilia Perez" boasts the first ever openly trans acting nominee in Karla Sofia Gascon -- even if the movie's approach to LGBTQ representation was dubbed "retrograde" by advocacy group GLAAD.

"The Brutalist", a three-and-a-half-hour epic about a Holocaust survivor moving to the post-war United States, celebrates the key role of immigrants in building the world's leading economy.

It earned 10 nods. So did Broadway adaptation "Wicked," which promotes tolerance regardless of skin colour, and warns against authoritarianism.

And there were two surprise acting nominations for "The Apprentice", a biopic about the young Trump that has drawn legal threats for its unsavory depiction of his formative years.

Changing of the guard? 

In the absence of films from Hollywood heavyweights like Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese -- and no love for Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" -- this year's nominees for best director are all appearing in the category for the first time.

Only James Mangold, who helmed Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown", has ever been Oscar-nominated in any category previously.

He earned nods for adapted screenplay with superhero prequel "Logan", and best picture with racing drama "Ford vs Ferrari".

His four rivals are Sean Baker, Jacques Audiard, Brady Corbet, and Coralie Fargeat -- the sole woman nominated.

All have earned their stripes on the indie and international circuits -- and Audiard's "A Prophet" was Oscar-nominated in 2010 -- but they are tasting personal Academy recognition for the first time.

Nepo 'babies' 

It has long been an open secret in Hollywood that one of the quickest ways to the top is to have famous parents.

But even for the most talented acting scions, that journey can still take many decades.

Isabella Rossellini, the daughter of three-time Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman and acclaimed director Roberto Rossellini, finally scored her first Academy nomination at the age of 72, with "Conclave".

And 59-year-old Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres followed in her mother's footsteps, decades after Fernanda Montenegro was nominated for "Central Station."

Return of the musical... 

In Hollywood's Golden Age, grand old musicals like "The Wizard of Oz" would often dominate the Oscars.

While there have been more recent successes like "La La Land", the genre has generally faded from critical recognition.

Even "La La Land", with its record-tying 14 nominations, infamously missed out on best picture after an envelope mix-up at the 2017 Oscar ceremony's botched finale.

The 2024 crop of movies is a return to form, with "Emilia Perez" and "Wicked" leading the pack.

There was also a strong showing for "A Complete Unknown", in which Timothee Chalamet performs hits like "Blowin' in the Wind" in Bob Dylan's signature raspy voice.

... but not on stage 

Despite the musical accolades, this year's Oscars ceremony will break with tradition by not featuring live performances of the best original song nominees.

The announcement comes after last March's Academy Awards telecast featured memorable renditions of "Barbie" songs from Billie Eilish and Ryan Gosling.

There will be no such opportunity for singer-actress Selena Gomez, who performed "Emilia Perez" number "Mi Camino" ,and H.E.R., who sings "The Journey" from "The Six Triple Eight."

Instead, Academy bosses say the show will feature segments focusing "on the songwriters".

That is good news for the likes of Diane Warren, who broke her own record with a 16th best song nomination with "The Journey". She has never won a competitive Oscar but earned an honourary award in 2022.

BOGOTÁ — The fires that have devastated Los Angeles bode badly for foreign entries in this year's Oscars, the French director of the acclaimed Spanish-language musical "Emilia Perez" told AFP on the eve of the nominations.

Jacques Audiard's surreal Spanish-language musical drama about a transgender Mexican drug baron, who tries to make amends for her violent past by helping trace people disappeared by cartels, is one of the favourites for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards.

Starring singer-actress Selena Gomez, "Avatar" star Zoe Saldana and Spanish transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon, the film, which won four Golden Globes and the runner-up prize in Cannes, is also tipped to garner acting and directing nods.

But in an interview with AFP in Bogota, Audiard said he expected Hollywood to "play it local" in the wake of the blazes which have killed at least 27 people and razed entire neighbourhoods in America's entertainment capital.

Film and TV stars have been among those who lost their homes, including Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges and Jamie Lee Curtis.

"I was thinking about that day the other day," Audiard, dubbed the Scorsese of French cinema for his gritty films about low-lifers and outsiders, said when asked about his prospects for taking home a statuette.

"I said to myself that given what happened in Los Angeles, with all the problems they must be having at the moment, they will have to, in my opinion, play it local."

"They [Americans] will have to reassert themselves and regain confidence, which they will probably do through their cinema industry," the 72-year-old filmmaker predicted.

After twice being postponed due to the Los Angeles fires the Oscar nominations will be announced online on Thursday.

Audiard, one of France's greatest living directors, has been in the running for an Academy Award before, with his bleak 2009 masterpiece "A Prophet", about a French-Arab youth rising through the criminal ranks in prison, winning a nomination for Best Foreign Film.

He has a history of making films in languages other than French, from "Dheepan", about three Sri Lankan refugees struggling to start over in a tough Parisian housing estate told mostly in Tamil, to his philosophical English-language Western "The Sisters Brothers" starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal.

A 'mongrel' film 

"Emilia Perez," the latest offering in his genre-hopping career, had been tipped for success but the last leg of its Oscars odyssey has been marred by the critical roasting it received in Mexico where it is due to open in theatres on Thursday.

The criticism revolves around the fact that the film features only one main Mexican actor (Adriana Paz), was mostly shot in French studios, and, above all, what some Mexicans see as its frivolous treatment of violence in a country where more than 450,000 people have been murdered in the past two decades and 100,000 others are missing.

Audiard, who was particularly moved by the story of 43 students missing, and believed massacred, in southern Mexico since 2014, said he spent more than four years doing research for "Emilia Perez".

But "at some point you have to stop doing research because...otherwise you end up doing a documentary".

He rejected criticism that the film misrepresented Mexico, saying some scenes in the film deliberately sought to "defy credulity" and that his goal was to tell stories that are "both local and universal".

"It's a Spanish-language film that was shot in Paris. It's a mongrel film," he defended.

"Emilia Perez" sees him again delve into the interior lives of drug traffickers, the subject of "A Prophet", but he denied being fascinated by the criminal underworld.

"I hate them," he said of traffickers, calling them "fascists" who undermined democracy.

His gruelling promotional campaign for "Emilia Perez" has repeatedly taken him back and forth across the Atlantic in recent months.

Last week, he attended the film's Mexican premiere before travelling to Colombia for the Bogota screening.

Audiard said he was exhausted, adding wryly: "I feel like I'm on a rock'n'roll tour."

LOS ANGELES, United States — The US film industry's first big gathering since fires devastated Los Angeles will begin Thursday at the Sundance festival, where highlights include a glitzy new Jennifer Lopez musical and a dark Benedict Cumberbatch drama.

Hollywood's annual pilgrimage to the Rocky Mountains to premiere the coming year's most-anticipated indie films is taking place in somber circumstances, after the blazes that killed at least 27 people and brought the entertainment capital to a halt.

Festival chiefs held lengthy talks with filmmakers, including those "who lost homes or were displaced" by the blazes, before deciding to press ahead, said Sundance director Eugene Hernandez.

Organisers heard "harrowing stories of people running out of their homes, evacuating... with their hard drives under their arms" to ensure their films survived, he told AFP.

"Everybody to a person just wants to look forward and wants to look ahead... it'll be a nice moment of reunion and community."

Among the 88 features being screened in Utah's Park City is "Rebuilding", about a rancher who loses everything in a wildfire.

"It takes on an added poignance, for those who will watch it next week," said Hernandez.

Josh O'Connor, known for "The Crown" and "Challengers", plays the lead role.

"It's an incredible film, and one that we felt was important to show, based on that spirit of resilience," said Sundance programming director Kim Yutani.

"I think it will be a particularly moving one for people to see."

J-Lo, Cumberbatch 

A-lister Lopez brings her first film to Sundance, with "Kiss of the Spider Woman".

From "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon, the film is based on the Broadway adaptation of Argentine author Manuel Puig's famous novel.

Lopez plays Aurora, a silver-screen diva whose life and roles are discussed by two mismatched prisoners as they form an unlikely bond in their grim cell.

While harking back to grand Golden Age Hollywood musicals with its fabulous costumes and Lopez's "knockout musical performance", the film is a more dramatic and independent take on the genre, said Hernandez.

Cumberbatch stars in another literary adaptation, "The Thing With Feathers", based on Max Porter's experimental and poetic novel about a grieving husband and two young sons.

"It's one of these juicy roles that big actors relish taking a bite out of," said Yutani.

Family tragedy and fatherhood are also the themes of "Omaha", with John Magaro ("Past Lives") delivering "an emotional gut punch of a role" that could spell awards, according to Yutani.

Elsewhere, Olivia Colman plays a mother taking her non-binary teen to visit their gay grandfather (John Lithgow) in "Jimpa".

Rapper A$AP Rocky and late-night host Conan O'Brien make up the eclectic cast of mystery "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You".

And "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri teams up with John Malkovich for thriller "Opus", about a young writer investigating the mysterious disappearance of a legendary pop star.

 Music, politics 

Music is also a prominent theme of Sundance's documentary selection, which has launched several of the most recent Oscar-winning non-fiction films.

A new "must-see" Jeff Buckley documentary features never-before-seen footage from "three very important women in his life, including his mother," said Yutani.

Elegance Bratton explores the Chicago roots of house music with "Move Ya Body: The Birth of House", while Oscar-winning director Questlove examines funk pioneer Sly Stone in "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)".

Politics will again be prominent.

Former New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern is expected in town to promote behind-the-scenes documentary "Prime Minister".

"The Jinx" director Andrew Jarecki explores violence and corruption in the US prison system with "The Alabama Solution."

And, days after the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect, Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis will unveil her "groundbreaking" new film "All That's Left of You", which has been given a highly prominent Saturday evening premiere at Sundance's biggest venue.

"That is not an accident. This is a really special one," said Yutani.

"I have not seen a film about a Palestinian family told in quite this way."

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 23 through February 2.

MILAN, Italy — With soft fabrics, jewelled hues and fluid shapes, Giorgio Armani's men's show in Milan on Monday was an ode to elegance and freedom of movement.

The legendary Italian designer, now 90, presented a fall-winter 2025-26 collection comprising belted baggy trousers and layered loose jackets, knits and scarves.

A seasonal palette of greys and browns was punctuated with sumptuous velvets, wools and silks in ruby red, emerald green and royal blue.

"The catwalk for me is a proposal, my vision of the current moment, which this season is particularly free from constraints and conventions," Armani said.

"I like to imagine the clothes that enter the wardrobes and lives of men of different ages and attitudes, and that are interpreted by each according to their own personality.

"Making fashion, for me, means creating tools that accompany life, making it ideally more beautiful and comfortable."

Actors Adrien Brody and Matt Smith were in the audience for the show, a highlight of five days of fashion in the northern Italian city.

Sharp-suited snappers 

"Wild elegance" had been the theme at Prada on Sunday, with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons offering up sheepskins worn over bare chests, straight-cut cigarette pants and coloured or patterned cowboy boots.

There were knitted sweaters, fitted leather jackets, nylon bomber jackets and tartan coats, a clash of styles shown off on a catwalk spread over three floors built out of scaffolding in the huge hall of the Prada Foundation.

In a world dominated by artificial intelligence, "the idea is to save the human instinct to liberate creativity and spontaneity", Miuccia Prada said backstage afterwards.

On Saturday, meanwhile, Dolce and Gabbana drew inspiration from the glamorous films of Italian director Federico Fellini for their show at the Metropole, the brand's headquarters and a former cinema.

In a nod to "La Dolce Vita" character Paparazzo, who gave his name to pushy photographers worldwide, models dressed as sharp-suited snappers crowded the entrance to the runway.

Lightbulbs popped as models walked the red-carpet in the imagined style of off-duty actors, a mix of jeans, trainers and luxurious coats.

Day segued to night with cropped jackets styled with caps and bags giving way to tailored, loose-legged three-piece suits and finally, sharp and sexy evening wear.

Set to a soundtrack drawn from Fellini's films, there were tuxedos, bow-ties and silk shirts, waistcoats worn with nothing underneath and long scarves thrown over one shoulder.

The palette was mostly black and grey, but with flashes of brilliance from glittering, oversized brooches, fastenings or necklaces.

Focusing on clean lines and luxury materials, the show was a confirmation of a return to basics begun in early 2023 by the Italian designers, after a brief foray into flasher streetwear aimed at younger buyers.