TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

F a s h i o n

l if e st yle

Fashion crowd applauds US open winner Pennetta at Ferragamo

Acalm is permeating many Milan runways, as design-ers tone down the colors and focus on form, creat-ing quieter moments that nonetheless have much

to contemplate. As with any trend, it wasn’t unanimousand there were some unbridled fashion moments. Here aresome highlights from the fifth day of Milan Fashion Weekpreviews of womenswear looks for next spring and sum-mer:

Heroine’s welcomeUS Open winner Flavia Pennetta got a spontaneous

round of applause from the front row of Ferragamo onSunday, the fifth day of Milan Fashion Week. The all-Italianfinal game between Pennetta and fellow Puglia-nativeRoberta Vinci captivated the nation, and Pennetta, whohas announced her retirement, is being feted as a nationalstar. Pennetta, wearing a red Ferragamo lace dress and knitshawl, fielded half a dozen TV interviews before the show,delaying slightly the start. Backstage, designerMassimiliano Giornetti gave her a big hug and laughedthat he had heard the applause from behind the scenes.Giornetti said he is a long-time friend and fan of Pennetta’s,and has dressed her for sporting events in the past. “I wasin Los Angeles when Flavia was playing the US Open. I waslike texting every five minutes to Flavia because I am a big,super fan,” Giornetti said.

Dolce&GabbanaDolce&Gabbana’s exuberant collection for next summer

paid homage to their native Italy, from Palermo in thesouth to Verona in the north, giving the country a much-needed ego boost. Some of the most eye-catching, spirit-ed looks celebrated Italy’s 1950s and 1960s heyday, whenAudrey Heburn scooted around Rome in a scarf and DeanMartin crooned “That’s amore.” Designers Domenico Dolceand Stefano Gabbana dubbed the collection “Italy is Love,”a turn on the Martin phraseology, and while there weremany nostalgic skirted sundresses and crocheted suits,they also created more contemporary looks. The theaterwas set up to look like a market, and models casually over-took one other as if they were out for a stroll. Every once ina while, one stopped to take a selfie, as if to underline theof-the moment nature of the collection. In the ultimatesocial media-fashion hookup, the pictures were immedi-ately posted to Instagram and flashed on screens hangingin the theater.

Amid the romantic pageantry, there were sheer ruchedsilk dresses with built-in bra tops and body-hugging ruf-fled sundresses featuring black graphic strokes. With awink to the past, the duo created high-waist polka dot biki-nis, long lacy caftans with sequin appliques of long-agoseaside performers, and pretty 1950 sundresses. Modelswore turbans and tiaras, as well as profusely bejeweledsunglasses fit for any diva, even if only of her town’s mar-ket, and carried Dolce&Gabbana shopping bags along withpurses shaped like cameras or simple shopping baskets.The grand finale featured a parade of silken mini dresseswith painted tributes to Italy’s many great cities and sites,from Roma to Pisa and Portofino to Taormina - fashionpostcards celebrating the best of a country that is belovedbut still seeing its way out of economic doldrums.

FerragamoMassimiliano Giornetti ’s collection for Salvatore

Ferragamo is simplicity itself, an expression of quiet.Giornetti took inspiration from timeless portraits ofwomen in pensive, solitary moments, which hung back-stage as a story board, and deduced from them the gentlyfolded fabric, the soft ruffles and the draping that charac-terized the collection. A white shirt was gathered gentlyalong the neckline at with the same broad border at theshort sleeves for a modern, structural look. It paired with ahigh-waist shiny black skirt. Big ruffles softened the silhou-ette of sundresses and tiered dresses were easy and laid-back. Prints were absent, with the color pallet bringingvibrancy to the looks, black-and-white, contrasted by rust,blue, pink and green.

While past Giornetti collections focused on Italiancraftsmanship, the designer said this one explored a senseof lifestyle, and finding a balance between contrasts. “Itwas what I was really looking for, a sense of lightness and asense of simplicity,” Giornetti said. “It is a collection muchmore about construction and less about surfaces.” Thelooks were finished with big dangling pearl earrings andmatching pendant that swung gently with each step.Shoes were colorful and flat, including closed-toe sandals.Bags were mostly small shoulder bags.

Au jour le jourSplat! Ketchup on your cocktail dress? Ink on your

trousers? Egg on your face? Mirko Fontana and DiegoMarquez, the designers behind the au jour le jour label,have designed the answer, and it lies in a pop image of thepopular laundry detergent Dash, which they made the

central motif of the collection. Speaking backstage beforethe show, Fontana called it “democratic fashion. Dash is abrand of washing detergent very popular in Italy.”

The media-savvy young designers, whose 5-year-oldbrand is known for its easy-to-share motifs, got the go-ahead from Procter & Gamble, owners of the Dash brand,to use the image in their collection. It shows up on go-goboots paired with a jacket with faux ink-spots, as hand-stitched sequins logo on tank dresses and as jewelry. Manygarments bear fake stains from coffee, ketchup and egg,that sometimes have a camouflage effect. They pair insist-ed the product placement wasn’t promotional. “It’s inspira-tion. We used something used by real people, and addedsome value to the fashion,” Fontana said.

MissoniMissoni went tribal for next summer, with bold stripes

and zig-zags, veering from disciplined black-and-white toexplosions of color. Angela Missoni said before the showthat the collection goes back to roots: “Missoni roots ingraphics, and the root of humanity, so I went back toAfrica.” She combined dark tones of browns and blackswith red, fuchsia together with pink, or yellows with bluesand greens. The silhouette expresses the freedom of thelooks. The dresses were fluid, both A-line and straight,while the pants were wide suggesting skirts or slim ciga-rette trouser. They were often worn with long, trailingribbed knitwear that was nearly transparent. Long scarvesare criss-crossed over the front and tied in the back to cre-ate a shrug.

Missoni said that for her, the ideal Missoni woman isageless. “When I can manage to dress, not always, butwhen I can manage to dress my daughters and their girl-friends, my girlfriends and my mother’s girlfriends, thismakes me so happy and I think I have achieved,” she said.“Missoni is not about age but about your spirit.” At Missoni,fashion is a family business and taking a front-row spotwas Johnny, the family bulldog, who spent most of theshow napping.

MarniMarni’s looks for next season are post-pop art graphic,

featuring architectural shapes, big shapes and bold, con-trasting monotones. With its oversized structural silhou-ette, big polka dots and graphic prints, the collectionwould make a great coloring book - except then you’d missall the textures: fur, satin, velvet and sequins. Pants aresuper-wide with an added element, a sort of wing or findown the outside seam, as if they were a 1950s Cadillac.They are worn with layered tops, like a canary yellowapron-top with black straps over a forest green T-shirt.

Dresses were layered, often in unorthodox color com-binations and with bold cutouts: a royal blue dress wasworn over a yellow-perforated tunic topping a final redlayer. When long, sleeves hung exaggeratedly over thehands. Sometimes contrasting sequins peeked out of thehemline cutouts, creating a sculptural effect. Handbags, inunusual shapes like a folded tulip, have chunky chainsthat can be wrapped around the wrist like bracelets. A bigbow sits on the shoulder in larger cross-body models -integrated as part of the geometry. Square-toed shoes fin-ish the looks. — AP

Models wear creations for Dolce&Gabbana women’s Spring-Summer 2016 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Sunday.

Tennis players Flavia Pennetta and Fabio Fognini arrive at the show for fashion houseGiorgio Armani. — AP/AFP photos