Milan Fashion: Arbesser embraces sustainability

Milan Fashion Week launched Wednesday on a note of optimism with news that sales have reached pre-crisis levels.

The Italian Fashion Chamber says sales are expected to reach 90 billion euros ($105 billion) this year, matching levels of a decade ago, with exports driving growth of 3 percent.

More numbers: The September spring-summer womenswear previews are the highlight of the Milan fashion calendar, and the fashion chamber boasts that the 60 runway shows, 80 presentations and 44 collateral events this time around make it the biggest in the world.

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

Highlights from Wednesday's shows, including Jil Sander, Arthur Arbesser, Moncler and Annakiki.

SEEKING SUSTAINABILITY AT ARTHUR ARBESSER

Milan-based Austrian designer Arthur Arbesser takes eco-sustainability seriously in fashion and life.

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

Italian ceramics inspire the swirling patterns and textures on garments, like a pleated skirt with a swirling pattern worn beneath a masculine check jacket belted at the side.

For Arbesser, the world of ceramics represents "rawness and a certain glamor. It is also the process of ceramic, to go from something basic like clay and turn it into something beautiful, like a shiny sculpture."

So he combined basic, raw textiles, like an unfinished linen, with more showy sequins arranged in a print. He said he wanted to give a signal about the importance of sustainability in fashion by incorporating organic textiles — while also conceding how difficult it is in this era to remain sustainable.

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

"I tried this summer to live without plastic," Arbesser said. But he had to give in to plastic water bottles while traveling for work with collaborators in Tuscany in the 40 degree Celsius (104F) heat. "It is not easy."

JIL SANDER'S MANTLE

Lucie and Luke Meier have taken up the Jil Sander mantle, literally and figuratively.

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

The designers presenting their third womenswear collection for the fashion house have shown their mastery of the Sander minimalist aesthetic but have developed the confidence to imbue it with some nostalgia. Hitting the target: A long crocheted white dress with slits for arms like a yesteryear mantle, over a sheer white skirt.

There was no inspiration beyond the simple line.

The looks were clean, bearing the codes of uniforms with tunics, trousers and big shirts, but with feminine touches, like pleats, layered body-hugging knitwear and crocheted pieces that portrayed both power and delicacy.

Models wear creations as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

On shirts and dresses, the designers created oversized cuffs that gave a whimsy to the looks. Denim was set off by trailing sheers. Fringe gave weight and movement to a light skirt. The colors were basic, whites, gray, blue, browns and sage.

Extreme platforms finished the looks, or flat booties with slightly gathered toes. Handbags were practical square purses or oversized shoppers, held sideways.

Models wear creations as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Arthur Arbesser women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoAntonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Jil Sander women's 2019 Spring-Summer collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

BEIRUT (AP) — The European Union announced on Thursday an aid package for Lebanon of 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — much of which will go to strengthening border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the small, crisis-wracked country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy.

The deal follows other recent deals by the EU to provide funds to countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania to fortify their borders. It comes against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward Syrian refugees in Lebanon and a major surge in irregular migration of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Cyprus.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the aid, which will be distributed between this year and 2027, during a visit to Beirut alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

The bulk of the package — 736 million euros — would go to supporting Syrian refugees “and other vulnerable groups” in Lebanon, while 200 million euros would bolster Lebanese security services in enforcing border and migration control, according to figures provided by the Cypriot government.

An unspecified amount of the aid would go to Lebanese fishermen, to discourage them from selling their boats to be used by smugglers.

Von der Leyen said the EU will also be “exploring how to work on a more structured approach to voluntary return to Syria in close cooperation with” the U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, and called for more international support for humanitarian and early recovery projects in Syria.

Europe will also continue to maintain “legal pathways” for resettlement of refugees in Europe, she said.

Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati praised the aid package, saying that "Lebanon’s security is security for European countries and vice versa.”

“Any blowup related to the issue of displaced persons will not be limited to Lebanon but will extend to Europe to become a regional and international crisis,” he said.

Lebanon, which has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis since 2019, hosts nearly 785,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands more who are unregistered, the highest population of refugees per capita in the world.

Lebanese political officials have been calling for years for the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or assist in returning them to Syria — voluntarily or not. Lebanese security forces have stepped up deportations of Syrians over the past year.

Tensions around the presence of refugees have further flared since an official with the Christian nationalist Lebanese Forces party, Pascal Suleiman, was killed last month in what military officials said was a botched carjacking by a Syrian gang. The incident prompted outbreaks of anti-Syrian violence by vigilante groups.

Meanwhile, Cypriot authorities have been complaining that their country has been overwhelmed by a wave of irregular migration of Syrian asylum seekers, many of them coming on boats from Lebanon.

The Lebanon office of the UNHCR said it had verified 59 “actual or attempted” departures by boats carrying a total of 3,191 passengers from Lebanon between January and mid-April, compared to three documented boat movements carrying 54 passengers in the same period last year.

Usually, few boats attempt the crossing in the winter, when the passage becomes more dangerous. In total, UNHCR recorded 65 boat departures carrying 3,927 passengers in all of 2023.

Cyprus has taken increasingly aggressive tactics to halt the flow of migrants. Last month, it suspended processing of Syrian asylum applications, and human rights groups accused the Cypriot coast guard of forcibly pushing back five boats carrying about 500 asylum seekers coming from Lebanon. Cypriot officials have denied this.

Christodoulides hailed Thursday's visit as a “historic day” and praised the EU decision, calling for European officials to go farther and declare some areas of Syria safe for return.

“The current situation is not sustainable for Lebanon. It is not sustainable for Cyprus, it is not sustainable for the European Union,” he said.

The new funding announcement comes ahead of the annual fundraising conference for the Syrian crisis in Brussels later this month. After 13 years of civil war in Syria, donor fatigue has set in while the world’s attention is occupied by the humanitarian fallout of more recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Associated Press writer Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s global migration coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, speaks during his meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, speaks during his meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, welcomes Cyprus' president Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen before their meeting at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen pose for photograph at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, right, welcomes Cyprus' president Nikos Christodoulides before their meeting at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, center, review an honor guard upon their arrival to meet with the Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, speaks during his meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, welcomes Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)