A REFRESHED FOUNDATION
Milan: Equestrian inspirations may be somewhat expected from a brand like Salvatore Ferragamo, but Creative Director Massimiliano Giornetti made the trend his own for S/S 13. Concentrating on leather and outerwear, Giornetti crafted a variety of trench coats featuring contrast lapels and grommet belts, as well as sexy leather trousers laced up the sides and crocodile tunic tops.
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GALACTIC VISIONARY
Milan: Although Giorgio Armani is certainly refined, he is not exactly a minimalist nor a futurist, but for S/S 13 much of his mainline collection could be called both. Nipped waist jackets and ankle-grazing wide leg trousers rendered in silvery grey organza and silk were paired with sporty oxfords and briefcase bags for a monochrome look that would be
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TO SICILY, WITH LOVE
Milan: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana once again mined the rich cultural history of Sicily for their collection this season. Prints for the opening looks featured the Roman army, which conquered and lost Sicily several times throughout its years. Other motifs depicted portraits of men of different races, representing the many cultures that have laid claim to
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REFINED INTARSIA
Milan: Marco de Vincenzo continued to wipe his slate clean this season, finding new ways to refine the knitwear he made a splash with last Spring. The drama of his painted cable knits was sublimated for S/S 13 into low-key intarsia tank dresses and tops with a swirling abstract landscape illustration rendered in earth shades of pumice or shimmering
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SEASIDE SPORT
Milan: Maybe it was the Olympics that got Angela Missoni thinking about sports. Her spring collection was scattered with references to competitive swimming. There were obvious ones, such as full-coverage one-piece swimsuits and goggles, but the inspiration was also felt in more subtle ways. Racer necklines and contrast trim hinted at swimwear influences without being overly referential. Rather than
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UPTOWN GIRL
Milan: For his third season at Trussardi, Umit Benan imagined a New York woman with an elegant uptown home near Central Park. With conservative pantsuits, pleated skirts, and A-line dresses, the clothes he presented mostly fit the bill. Benan began as a menswear designer, so it's no surprise that tailoring was precise and prevalent. But proportion and details dragged
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ELEGANTLY SPARSE
Milan: "Sparseness as elegance" was how Consuelo Castiglioni described her spring collection for Marni. She stripped away most of her signature geometric prints and, instead, let the spare shapes and soft volumes speak for themselves. The prints, of course, were not completely absent. The show opened with a series of visually arresting checks, and large-scale flowers and sliced dots
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RELAXED MINIMALISM
Milan: After fall's uncharacteristically dark and drape-y collection, Manuela Arcari lightened up for spring and returned to the minimalist aesthetic for which the Ter et Bantine label is known. In a palette of cool neutrals, Arcari presented clean-lined looks in a range of textural fabrics, including crisp organza, slick leather, and crinkly linen. The soft structure helped to create
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ASIAN PERSUASION
Milan: Peter Dundas is yet another Milan designer who made references to Asia this week. Mandarin collars, frog closures, and embroidered dragons borrowed from traditional Chinese dress, while kimonos were a nod to Japan. The first passage of looks was an ethereal, all-white bunch showcasing tonal embroidery. Color and print did not appear until look 14 and continued sparingly
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HAUTE HARLEQUINS
Milan: With Picasso's harlequin paintings, the Commedia dell'Arte, and Pierrot on their minds, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi created a colorful collection characterized by variations on the traditional harlequin diamond pattern. There were overlapping diamonds, pieced diamonds, striated diamonds, uneven diamonds, and even diamond paillettes. Some of the silhouettes also reflected the shape, with extra-wide, angular sleeves and nipped-in
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THE CHARM OF YOUTH
Milan: Antonio Marras played to a significantly younger audience for S/S 13 with a casual Junior-friendly floral motif, crystal embellished camouflage and textured patchworking. Applied to established must-have items like the fit and flare skater dress, the field jacket and the printed pajama shirt, these details proved eclectic and pretty. Molded short-sleeved tops crafted from tweed and
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A HUMBLE RETURN
Milan: It would be difficult for any designer to follow the universally lauded work of Raf Simons, but that was Jil Sander’s task upon returning to her own label for S/S 13 and luckily she was up to the job. Starting with a flattened hourglass silhouette, Sander concentrated on what she knows best—minimal suiting and simple dresses, this
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RETRO BLOCK
Milan: Colorblocking has been a major trend for quite a few seasons and in Milan it seems designers are still fascinated with the technique. For Spring, Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi took the look on a playful retro futurist spin, putting out crisply boxy separates outlined with wide panels or sliced with precise pleats, all rendered in a directional mix
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A SINGULAR FEMININITY
Milan: Tomas Maier had a singular vision of a chic 40s muse for S/S 13, a woman committed to slim day dresses in clean floral prints and subdued colors, a common look decades ago. But women of the WWII era would have been lucky to have access to these embellished and crafted pieces, their lean silhouettes edged in
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