This autumn be prepared for a return to the luxe bohemian styles favoured by the likes of Kate Moss and Sienna Miller. Gucci's head designer Frida Giannini came up with a covetable collection of enbroidered tapestry coats, silk Cossack tunics in paisley prints, skin-tight jeans with gilt studs and military jackets of fur and brocade. It was Russian revolution meets bohemian Paris at the turn of the century, and is sure to influence the high street in a big way.
Gucci wasn't the only show to channel the folkloric vibe. Roberto Cavalli made a colourful splash with embroidered vest tops and full black peasant skirts with multi-hued stripes. The South American-inspired designs weren't, however, the key theme of the show. Instead the Florentine designer turned his back on his usual sexy, revealing styles to produce a host of demure Fifties-style prom dresses with flower prints and lace. "I was thinking of a young Elizabeth Taylor or Nathalie Wood," he said of the Hollywood starlet styles.
Over on the Prada runway Miuccia Prada was having a love affair with lace – 600 metres of it imported from Switzerland to be exact. It was very "femme fatale", she said of the predominantly black collection. "I wanted a surface that was simple – I needed something that moved. I started looking at lace and I became obsessed with it – and also, of course, because I never liked it. It reminds me of children, the church. I got rid of all the old connotations. Here, it was very feminine, elegant, dignified."
The lace designs ironically bordered on the risqué as they often looked like the models were naked underneath – in fact they were wearing flesh-toned body stockings and leotards. There were only a select few silhoettes, mainly made up of pencil skirts, high-collared shirts, blouses and long-sleeved dresses. The austere black Victorian–style frocks were enlivened with the odd burst of orange or gold.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
