Missoni

MILAN, September 28, 2005
By Hamish Bowles
Angela Missoni's collection reflected the passion for prettiness that is sweeping Milan's spring-summer 2006 runways. Her show featured an embarrassment of ruffles and pleats; fabrics including diaphanous chiffon, organza, and fragile laces; and sugar-sweet prints.

Those frills and flounces gave a kick to the shortest flirty skirts and baby-doll dresses, and volume to draped goddess gowns and garden-party frocks with a thirties flavor. Even the wide-lapel, sharp-tailored blazers and mess jackets (with an echo of seventies Rive Gauche) were softened with frothy jabots; sleek pants were paired with an update of the matinee jacket, flounced in net and lace. Missoni's signature prints and knit weaves ran the gamut from the angular romance of a Poiret-inspired Art Deco floral design to the brilliance of Peruvian stripes that gave punch to the pastels. Also adding voltage were the brightly colored or metallic disc sequins shimmering over short shifts or three-quarter cardigan jackets.

Less focused than recent offerings from the house, this pan-generational collection nevertheless offered femininity for all ages. A simple beige cardigan, casually slouched over a bias-cut gown, for instance, echoes Angela Missoni's own easy, defiantly anti-fashion style, while those sassy little dresses with flounces well above the knee look destined for her daughter Margherita—herself an inspirational force on the international fashion scene.

Style.com