Fall 2004 Ready-To-Wear Alessandro Dell'Acqua Fall 2004 Ready-to-Wear Collection on Style.com: Runway Review

MILAN, February 24, 2004 – Is eccentric the new normal? That�s the odd inversion beginning to spring to mind, as more and more shows fall in uniformly behind the E word. Of course, there�s nothing deranged or random about most Milanese designers� choice of inspiration: They know a commercial direction when they see one. In Alessandro Dell�Acqua�s case, he called up an out-there muse of the moment in the form of Courtney Love, as he imagines she�d look after rummaging through a twenties wardrobe that was actually designed in the seventies.

What does that mean? Antique-looking tiered velvet dresses pulled on over sweaters and glitter-heeled ankle-strap shoes, for a start. But this wasn�t wholly a dose of grunge revisited after a heavy night out. For an indigenous angle on early seventies glamour, Dell�Acqua referenced the late cult Italian design hero Walter Albini. That came through in Lurex knits, worn with matching jersey turbans and paired with high-waist flares, and in a reprise of the mixed Deco-patterned jacquard sweaters that were part of Albini�s nostalgic métier.

One outfit—a loopy pink-mohair backless sweater, worn with a sparkly silver shirt collar and a pair of white pants—nailed the disco-fabulous era nicely. There was rather more Miuccia than Courtney in this collection (fabric-covered, beaded disc brooches landed on jackets and dresses), but few designers anywhere can completely escape the influence of Milan�s own great homegrown eccentric—especially this season.

– Sarah Mower

STYLE FILE