Fendi's charmed circle; Dolce & Gabbana come into the light

By Suzy Menkes

Published: September 27, 2007

MILAN: A liquid softness, translucent fabrics, bigger volumes, long, full hemlines and artistic prints - as the Milan shows draw to a close, that is the point of view of designers who all seem to be striving for a modern romance.

When Karl Lagerfeld talks of the "birth of the day" and its streaks of dawn pink and pale blue, referring to the soft hues in his Fendi show, you know that times are changing. Likewise, Dolce & Gabbana exchanged sirens of the night for sylphs of summer as the designers' more familiar heavy metal and sultry sex were eclipsed by artsy flowers.

This surprising consensus among disparate designers is what we call fashion. And if their proposals are acceptable to women, there will be a change of mood and of silhouette for spring/summer 2008.

The Fendi show was celebrating, in discreet style, 10 years of the Baguette bag, which Silvia Venturini Fendi described as "timeless," saying: "I think the Baguette deserves a longer life than an 'It' bag."
For the show, against the canvas of Lagerfeld's semi-sheer mid-calf dresses, worked on a circle format, the Baguette bags were shown in varying sizes and decorated with big raindrops of beads and inset snakeskin clouds to go with the overall watery theme. That was reinforced by liquid flowing through looping pipes on both the backdrop and runway.

Fendi's charmed circle; Dolce & Gabbana come into the lightCoping with celebrity, the red carpet character testPrivate equity firms ready to cash in on luxury brandsThe idea was worked both in - and on - the graceful dresses, some with a perfect round of sleeve or collars; others with circle prints that Lagerfeld called "controlled graphics," inspired by the work of the DaDa artist François Picabia. "I was in the mood for print but didn't want flowers, so I thought of a rainbow," said Lagerfeld to explain how the arc turned into a circle.
Why did this cultured, elegant and well-thought out Fendi collection miss out on the emotional charge fundamental to a great show? Like a square peg in a round hole, Lagerfeld's transformation from a designer of sharp lines and silhouettes to a sweeter softness seemed slightly forced, although he played a masterly game of angular against circular, with geometric pieces buckling a circle of a belt.

The mid-calf dresses, white and semi-opaque, worn over shorts, caught a sporty modernity. But other dresses, especially those with soft gray and pink patterns, looked almost like a 1950s revival. But it was a good show with a clear vision. And that circle is going to play perfectly in China, where Fendi is off to do a show on the Great Wall and where, with serendipity, a circle symbolizes happiness.

It was a happy fashion moment to see Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana emerge from their dark, sharp club world and move on. The show started with paintbrushes dabbling on silk, running rivulets of color with Jackson Pollock enthusiasm to create bold, abstract flowers. From the small screen to the big stage as the video of work-in-progress in the Dolce & Gabbana studio morphed into the artistically patterned dresses spreading skirts like modern art canvases across the runway.

This was Dolce & Gabbana light - airy bubbles of skirts, caging nets of fabric, bouncy short hemlines and artsy evening gowns echoing Christian Lacroix in his haute pouf heyday.

But this colorful show was also about light in a different sense. The design duo let daylight in on their nighttime party clothes, moving into a parallel universe where women step out in pants and a gauzy shirt, swinging a flat bag (itself an artistic object) with a smaller purse attached. They even allowed themselves to show a lean pantsuit, displaying their tailoring side that has been idling for a while.

The main change in silhouette was that, as elsewhere in Milan, things had loosened up, moving away from last season's clinging sexiness with shiny metallic accessories. No one has ever doubted that Dolce & Gabbana had a more romantic side, and it was a wise move to turn to that sweeter register.

Even the footwear veered between not-too-high heels on laced shoes and summer flats. Not everything worked. A dress with a braiding of drapes looked like a fitted dress suddenly come undone. And some of the evening ball poufs were pure theater.

But the flowers were oh-so-pretty! - from sweet wisteria and orchids to more abstract dabs. They were a metaphor for the change in spirit from pert to pastoral. A slightly heavier theme reflected the flocked wallpaper of the backdrop and produced velvet brocades of William Morris-style patterns. But the overall result was of charming dresses that were mostly wearable and covetable.

Pucci does Cheyenne on a road trip down Route 66? Now that sounds like an unlikely fashion destination for the aristocratic Emilio. But with desert sand and coral colors - not the least of which was on the neon-patterned backdrop - the designer Matthew Williamson created a refreshing take Thursday on Emilio Pucci's noble heritage.

The designer's own boho instincts draw him toward a 1970s aesthetic. But this show was not so much retro as ethnic American in a hyper-sophisticated way, right down to feather pieces dangling from curving platform sandals. A chamois leather jacket, with a snakeskin mosaic of Pucci patterns, was a standout piece with Western influence.

But Williamson did not go wild for the West - apart from those sunset and sandstorm colors. "I was inspired by the archives and the boxy shapes Emilio did," said the designer, referring to square-cut dresses filled with geometric patterns that were in line with the general widening of shapes.

Since a little of Pucci pattern goes a long way, a sand-yellow suit, cinched with a wide belt, or a long, draped dress in solid colors of pink and orange gave a break from the prints. A chamois dress with the pattern cut like a doily into the suede was a master work - but not necessarily as desirable as a square-cut sweater worn with a pair of sloppy pants. Pucci could do with more simple sportswear pieces, which Williamson offers only as seductive swimwear.

But the British designer is making a good, straightforward job with brand Pucci - and there was one very satisfied client. The Pucci board member Delphine Arnault Gancia, of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton dynasty, wore a simple dress with a big history. The print was first designed for Marilyn Monroe but re-colored by Williamson. Just one of the ways that the designer is modernizing Pucci and giving it new life.
Suzy Menkes is fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune.

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