A Summer of Love and Fantasy

The lastest bright fashions in Milan by Prada, Cavalli, D'Acqua, Armani and Trussardi

Last week in Milan, Italy, nine days of parades of ready-to-wear fashion came to a close under the sign of pink: the colour of newly recovered optimism, but at the same time a tone that could be seen everywhere on the catwalks. Now the baton goes to Paris, France, for another series of events for tradespeople, beginning with some special events such as parades by Y's (Yamamoto) and Martin Margiela, who's left Hermes to concentrate on his own trademark (in partnership with Renzo Rosso).
The official event started on Tuesday for nine days just like Milan; most big names, however, concentrate in the first six. By the end of the Parisian event, it will be possible to assess the trends for the next spring/summer season, considering that Milan had been preceded by New York and London, England.
Trends and positive messages can already be read, anyway: such a creative season, so dense with accurate workmanship and careful balance among research, novelty, and marketing credibility, hadn't been seen in Milan since quite a few years. Perhaps the heavy crisis suffered by the fashion industry had a positive side effect.
According to the experts, the Milan fashion shows were quite good: nobody got bored (like sometimes happens when the shows are more about products than about fantasy), but there have been no trashy exaggerations, to often used to catch the eye. The Milan event had an air of recovery; fashion houses hastened to release data on the good sales of the second semester, buyers seemed positively enthusiastic, and even the international press looked enlivened and more attentive than in the dark seasons of the recent past.
Asian customers were back, there were new customers from Eastern Europe, and even the trade fairs (MilanoVendeModa and Modit) were crowded. All this gave more optimism and good starting points for Italian fashion.
A rosy climate seems to have seeped directly into the choices of the designers, almost all of which went on a quest for levity and sophisticated glamour. For instance, the shirtwaist made a comeback; this most feminine garment is much liked by men, but seemed to have become a mouldy relic. On the contrary, next spring will see a lot of them, since many designers tackled the theme: Miuccia Prada, in pleated madras or faded and curled batik; Trussardi, in shantung decorated by narrow strips of suede; Alessandro Dell'Acqua, in pink or black chiffon with a radial motif; and even Roberto Cavalli, in a bustier version fit for a cow-girl.
Central to all the collections was a new levity that valorized thin fabrics: a lot of chiffon everywhere, cut in the mode of Ferretti (she's been copied much in this season), used in scales, in overlapping flounces, creating a 3D effect, like Giorgio Armani has done (for his stoles and white-and-blue dresses).
A lot of thin jersey, also from Gucci, where Tom Ford used it mostly in flesh tones for soft blouse and pants sets; a lot of organza, even from Jil Sander, who used it for light-coloured dresses with mis-ironed pleats, slightly childlike.
Printed fabrics were everywhere: Dolce & Gabbana mixed and matched them in a colourful parade, while Versace fished them out of his files and revisited them, sending on the catwalk a collection that many saluted with "at long last!"
Many flowers and open-work embroideries (especially beautiful were the laser-cut roses by Ferré, used in great coloured and pleated dresses), and much, much pink (in shades from strawberry to face powder), and references to candies. Della Valle even called Candy Bag a new handbag by Tod's shaped like a candy, and Tom Ford said that Gucci women are candies, sugar drops for the eyes, bonbons. Anna Molinari, who's always used pink, looked even happier than her Blumarine-dressed models, wearing mini-dresses embroidered with tiny roses.
All this sweetness found its moving conclusion in the show by Missoni, a celebration of the 50 years of the house founded by Ottavio and Rosita: on the catwalk the new collection was followed by 94 dresses chosen among those created in the past half century.

Publication Date: 2003-10-19
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3254