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The super-glamorous finalé felt very Stardust
Memories and featured billowy, fluttering to-the-floor nightgowns
literally glistening in sequins and beads, complete with deliriously
chic fox-and-chiffon stoles. Model Georgina Grenville, the epitome
of the Gucci woman and the face of a memorable Mario Testino campaign,
closed the emotionally-charged show. Then, to a standing ovation,
Ford took his final bow on the catwalk under a rain of rose petals.
Miuccia Prada is a designer
known for taking sudden, challenging about-turns from one season
to the next. This time her milestone of a collection continued the
love affair with prints and the ’50s we first witnessed in
spring. Seamless murals of a rocky landscape, the backdrop to the
show, set the tone. Prada claimed she wanted to express ‘romanticism
of the future and the past.’ She transferred the drawings of
German painter Caspar David Friedrich onto full skirts and dresses,
mixed them with computer-like pixellated prints and topped it all
with dip-dyed sloppy jumpers or couture-like coats. The mood here
was overtly decorative: a sheepskin coat came with embroidered neckline
and edged with a mink strip, rhinestone ribbon belts were the ubiquitous
accessory and even a plain wool coat sported jewelled elbow patches.
Die-hard, glamorous futurism hit Fendi.
Karl Lagerfeld kept clear of the reigning retro mood by sending
out space cadets—or where they techno-warriors?—in impossibly
narrow tube skirts topped with decadent layers of fur, satin and
jewellery. The whole scene was set inside a cold, gritty and slightly
délabré industrial building. The palette, all
burgundy, plume and dark brown, was admittedly a bit difficult to
digest. Noteworthy numbers were the knitted fur cardigans and the
silver foil fur-lined jackets.
Donatella Versace, who by her own admission is
feeling a bit ‘conservative’ of late, presented both the
Versus and Versace lines in a
single show. As usual, the show was held inside her small palazzo
on the central, elegant via Gesù, next door to the Four Seasons
Hotel. It's a bit difficult to imagine Donatella as conservative.
In fact, her own twisted brand of conservatism looked slightly punk,
but not overtly aggressive, and indeed quite fresh.
The Versus girls, with their deceitful heavy-rimmed
eyes and black lips, demurely matched micro-argyle printed tops
with short coats and sweet fluttering to-the-knee skirts. Or they
flaunted plume-toned-mink cropped jackets—the waists nipped
with patent belts—over printed silk skirts, never forgetting
to carry a small argyle-patterned bag.
CONTINUED
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Donatella Versace admits she
is feeling a bit ‘conservative’ of late. It's a bit difficult to
imagine Donatella as conservative. In fact, her own twisted brand
of conservatism looked slightly punk, but not overtly aggressive,
and indeed quite fresh
  
TOP AND ABOVE RIGHT:
Versace. ABOVE LEFT: Fendi.
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