FASHION : Italian Heat Wave : Milan’s Ready-to-Wear Designers Go for Everything That’s Flashy for Summer
The Italian ready-to-wear designers are predicting a sizzling spring and summer. Five days of fashion shows covering the newest collections by the city’s top designers were accompanied by a steady stream of hot flashes.
They started blasting through town at the Dolce and Gabbana show on Sunday, when sequined bra tops and bustiers, black thigh-high stockings, ultra-short skirts and shorts--all worn with long strings of pearls and gold beads--sizzled down the runway.
But designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were careful not to make the look too aggressive, interspersing black lingerie with ethereal white chiffon tunics and demure poof skirts.
Giorgio Armani, the most popular Italian ready-to-wear designer and the one who made the man-tailored look fashionable in the late ‘70s, also succumbed to the heat wave of spring-summer 1991.
His Emporio collection for the younger set, also shown Sunday, emphasized long legs in thigh-high miniskirts and thigh-baring shorts worn with high-heeled sandals. If other designers are predicting a steamy summer, Gianni Versace sees a scorcher ahead. His new styles are lively, sexy and avant garde with stretch pants and catsuits, mini-shifts, micro-miniskirts and fiery hot pants as key elements.
Traditionally, Milanese designers prefer shades of brown, gray and black. But as usual for Versace, he opted for circus reds and blues, neon greens and yellows, disco purples and pinks--some enlivened with sequins. His geometric prints were combined with florals; pop-art-style pictures of Hollywood myths James Dean and Marilyn Monroe were painted onto stretch-fabric outfits or stitched in spangles onto blouses, tight pants or evening dresses. Even shoes, hosiery and jewelry carried the print motif.
Versace is a pioneer in the new trend to reach beyond the classic, man-tailored styles that put Italian designs at the top of ready-to-wear. Perhaps it is Milan’s way of fighting its longstanding rival--Paris--whose designers have gained greater attention in recent months with their more flamboyant, far-out looks.
Versace received a standing ovation at his show, where he announced that proceeds from the worldwide sale of an elegant silk shirt in the collection, printed with Vogue covers, will go to AIDS research.
In many collections, the return of the ‘60s continues to be a strong theme, with miniskirts, hot pants, shift dresses and colorful prints all being recast in very sexy updates: Hemlines are shorter, hips tighter and breasts barer.
In the makeup department, eye shadows are as bright as a Barbie doll’s, with false eyelashes longer than anything real could ever be.
The return of the dress is probably the most significant change in Milan this season, where trousers have been a staple. Many have a ‘60s feeling about them, but the ‘90s versions are tighter, especially when made in stretch fabric. Shifts, A-line and trapeze dresses, as well as halter-top sun dresses for town and beach wear, are leading ‘60s-inspired dress silhouettes.
Perhaps most successful at this particular revival is Mariuccia Mandelli for Krizia, who showed her collection Tuesday. Shifts in demure floral silk prints highlighted the first part of the show. For the cocktail hour, Krizia offered white silk shifts trimmed with silver or simple silk apron dresses.
As the evening went on, hemlines got shorter, brushing the upper thigh. Micro shorts and bra tops were the hottest evening looks.
Few of these clothes could go to work, unless women are aerobics instructors or nightclub hostesses.
Therefore, the trim navy-blue suits spruced up with large gold buttons seen at Genny, a collection overseen by company president Donatella Girombellim, received grateful applause from fashion buyers worried about extravagant styles and shrinking pocketbooks.
Mediterranean-print fabrics, carrying of starfish, coral branches and sea plants, appeared on Genny blouses, jewelry and belts for day. They became elaborate sequined prints on evening wear.
Milan-based Gianfranco Ferre and Paris-based Karl Lagerfeld showed their Italian collections. Both designers also create at least one Paris collection, keeping one foot on both fashion runways. The result is a mixed fashion bag, not all of it the of both worlds.
Ferre creates his own label in Milan; in Paris, he designs ready-to-wear and couture collections for Christian Dior, one of the French capital’s oldest and most respected fashion houses.
Paris-based Lagerfeld designs his own line and one for Chanel, Dior’s traditional rival. In Italy, he is the creative genius behind Fendi’s ready-to-wear and luxurious furs.
In his recent signature Italian collections, Ferre seems to be struggling to reconcile the purity of his sculpted fashion with the more daring look of Paris design.
For spring, he showed blouses in crisp white organza with French cuffs and paired with slick patent leather hot pants. Well-tailored leather trousers were toughened by combat belts and goggles, reminiscent of the more aggressive Parisian leather look.
Big bows are a Ferre specialty, but this season he decorated them with jewel-encrusted floral bouquets. Taken separately, they were lovely adornments; together, they were excessive.
When Ferre stuck to his Milanese guns, the collection was stunning, as in the white- and ivory-striped pant suits, the white crochet shift dresses, the chocolate-brown leather perforated pants and the floor-length gowns with embroidery.
Lagerfeld had few problems adapting French coquetry to the sensible lines of tailored Italian fashion.
He put zodiac prints on T-shirts, catsuits and swim apparel. But the central item of the collection was the blouse--loose and often pleated at the back.
True to the latest trends, the Fendi collection was full of pretty dresses.
