Less Flash (but Plenty of Flesh)

If Miuccia Prada and Tom Ford at Gucci can have a change of clothes--moving away from excessive designs to more simple and classic looks--well then, so can Donatella Versace.

But Donatella is no copy cat.

The sister of Gianni, the designer who was murdered two years ago, closed Milan’s Spring 2000 fashion week on Friday with a classic approach to her collection that was built around 595 colorful scarf designs created by her brother.

Working with mostly baroque-inspired scarf designs, Donatella created a green tie-dyed dress, halter tops, skirts, pants and fringed shirts.

Prada extended the classic look to her younger Miu Miu line shown Friday: pleated skirts and dresses of synthetic fabric used for football jerseys. Baseball jackets and polo neck sweaters took on the “Grease” look.

On Thursday, Karl Lagerfeld, for Fendi, layered it on with multiple skirts and pants. He added chiffon ruffles in every direction to short blue patent leather jackets and turned suede dresses into patchwork puzzles. But his pink tulle dresses with mink--dyed white, black and brown patterns--stole the show.

The Trussardi design team presented leather dresses, pants and jackets in purple python and a strapped dress with python leather embroidery.

Laura Biagiotti played with bugs on her collection, decorating dresses and trousers with flowers and insects.

Max Mara hit the mark earlier this week with his beaded halters--all the rage on runways here--and sexy one-shoulder dresses.

Jil Sander offered a beautiful collection of origami-shaped chiffon dresses and skirts with folded front pleats that looked like layers of tissue paper. Several white shirts were western cut. Dresses were made of cotton, rayon-chiffon and a rayon-silk blend.

Black and white reigned on her runway with a sprinkling of pale hues: rose, beige, green and yellow, several used in Hawaiian daisy-patterned shirts that looked faded.

Sander, like several other designers, steered away from flash--but still managed to show plenty of flesh through sheer fabrics on models sans undies. Nudity (yawn) is old school on the runway. Respectable women wouldn’t leave home like that.

E-mail Michael Quintanilla at socalliving@latimes.com.