MILAN, February 21, 2007 – At Anna Molinari, Rosella Tarabini clearly got the Milanese-trend memo about keeping it tough, dark, short, and, at all possible times, belted. That might seem like a bit of a volte-face for a label known not long ago for peachy chiffon fairy dresses, but recently this collection has been edging toward a hipper, younger vibe, and so today's mood shift didn't seem too egregiously out of character (which is more than can be said for several other houses in this city).

Some of it, admittedly, was down to styling: the military caps as well as the black tights, platforms, and long gloves that are cropping up in so many places. But Tarabini managed to inject enough personality into enough of the things she showed to differentiate her collection from all the others that currently feature laundry lists of black high-belted dresses and coats, egg-shaped skirts, and black patent. Tarabini's strengths: a naughty-schoolgirl black knife-pleat skirt in patent, a high-necked A-line coat, and, most credibly, her contribution to the knit revival that's becoming noticeable this season. Hers were fine-gauge sweater dresses in multidirectional stripes, with a skimpy roughness that made them seem like the kind of thing a young girl really might want to wear—a welcome contrast to the gargantuan quadruple-knit fantasies that have appeared on some other runways and that look frankly ridiculous in the midst of the world's global-warming crisis.

– Sarah Mower