Black Is In, Legs Are Out

Friday, 03 June 2005

Black Is In, Legs Are Out

MILAN - It’s not deliberate, but the girl can’t help it. Miuccia Prada admits, “I go against the flow”. Everybody else has opted for colour so Prada’s new black is, well, black. Layers of fabric and lavish decoration abound, but Miuccia has gone back to a vaguely - let’s not overdo it - minimal fashion look. It’s a faux-poverty look that you soon realise is anything but poor. Have the others gone for skirts? A passion is a passion - “I’d have liked to do all trousers, but I just couldn’t” - but underskirts are there, with two pieces and, especially, in the dress version. Prada plays games mixing insouciance with simplicity, and glitz with existentialism. The forecasts are that next winter’s big winner will be this new “intellectual femininity for women with attitude, whether they are queens or prostitutes”. And it all comes together in a few, sharply focused items, forged in the Prada soul’s fire to a temper that rivals Balenciaga’s haute couture.

There’s an endless succession of slightly flared or rounded lightweight coats, brought to life by embroidery or metal ring trimmings and dyed after finishing. Many garments are assembled from chiffon panels, or cling tightly in a swirl of tiny pleats. Here and there, a red rose or even a caramel camel perks up the black. Some of the bags come straight from grandma’s closet and the heels are high and silvery. At the end, the audience applauds until Miuccia emerges. Yesterday was dedicated to elegance. We had the Italian debut of Bottega Veneta, one of the stratospherically expensive designer labels from the peninsula that drives American women wild. It’s easy to see why. The range evinces an increasingly hard-to-find elegance in its flared, swirling skirts, soft silk jersey suits whose tiny gold beads tinkle as you walk, the velvet trenchcoats and the champagne astrakhan overcoats. Shoes, boots and bags are tiny, incomparable handmade masterpieces woven from soft leather or fabrics coordinated to match the garments. It was also the Italian debut of Menichetti, the long-haired stylist with the blue fixation. There was plenty for inquisitive eyes to feast on.

Fundamentally, the philosophy is totally different - the fabrics and cuts are never classic - but not the elegance of the results. Skirts, or rather skirt suits, are again the focus of attention. Deconstructed and reconstructed, their fabric is a silk tweed, the jacket falls halfway between motorcycling and horse riding and the layered skirt is flared and short. Everything is set off by a slim silhouette echoed in the pinstripe coats, the long satin dresses, the masculine trousers and teasing collarless blouses. Emporio Armani also came up with a “flirts in skirts” look, although the skirts are more of a mini, if not quite micro, persuasion than midi. The label offered just about everything, from flared, balloon, pleated, straight or accordion-pleat underskirts to masculine trousers, shorts and a riot of jackets, coats, blouses and crystal-peppered dresses. Complementing the range are elegantly eccentric shoes, bags and eyewear. Just Cavalli sent onto the catwalk a brightly coloured, mischievously young tsarina in knee-length skirts, super-slim jeans, quilted jackets and girdle-dresses that matrioska or Russian peasant prints make even more fresh and exciting. In contrast, northern Europe provides the inspiration for Anna Molinari’s Blugirl, an entire series of petite, coloured and embroidered tulle and silk dresses, svelte jumpers and waist-length quilted jackets. A small, plain coloured jerkin - in all kinds of fur, including mink and chinchilla - is the focus of Simonetta Ravizza’s collection. The garment is even made in strips so that it can be easily folded and tucked into a bag. Rocco Barocco’s party piece is an automatic button with a detachable Swarovski decoration, depending on whether the trenchcoat or two piece is worn for work or for partying.

Paola Pollo

English translation by Giles Watson www.watson.it

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