A model displays a creation by Roberto Cavalli
© AFP Filippo MonteforteMILAN (AFP) - With long flowing trousers, kimono dresses, big-pocketed skirts and prints, Missoni plans to ease its way, very gently, towards spring-summer 2007 with nonchalant style.
Angela Missoni offered wide trousers almost hiding the models' shoes which, platformed and high-heeled, were not for anyone in a hurry. Much better to take your time, perhaps in comfy shorts and a kimono blouse.
Black, white, earth, yellow and turquoise defined Missoni's harmonious colour codes for its prints this summer.
The house, known for its zigzag pattern, blended in a camouflage motif, as well as polka dots, flowers and edging in contrasting colours at the bottom of kimono sleeves.
Lilac flowers also mixed with white dots on a black dress, while pieces of fabric in different small prints made up another dress. Occasionally the fullness of the silhouette was reined in by a corset-like band.
A model displays a creation for Missoni
© AFP Filippo MonteforteLast season, Cavalli found inspiration in the allure of the East; for summer he wants women to go back in time to Italy at the end of the 19th century.
Photographs of Florence in 1890 when women wore long dresses and men were dressed all in black provided his catwalk backdrop.
But his modern-day female Florentines are more likely to wear cropped wide trousers, paired with short jackets with tone-on-tone or golden embroidery.
Or they might choose vaporous dresses with long billowy sleeves pinched in several times along the arm to musketeer cuffs. Big shirts had raised collars with lavallieres in silk or satin sky blue. These were worn with pants or black patent shorts.
Lace, too, played its part in this varied collection. Cavalli used it in black for long dresses with a high collar and a wave of satin, fringing and a thick turquoise belt, while flowers adorned a black mini-dress which was laced at the back.
A long striped dress with flared sleeves was sensational.
At Anteprima, Japanese designer Izumi Ogino sent out shorts, shirts with a long pointed collar, micro-blousons and waistcoats in a palette of black, white and silver.
On Sunday, Paris takes over, kicking off eight days of catwalk shows which feature collections by Balmain and Maison Martin Margiela among others on the opening day.
The French capital is the last leg of a month-long fashion tour of ready-to-wear for spring-summer 2007 that included New York, London and Milan. Paris fashion week runs until October 8.
©AFP