Fur dominates many a Milan runway
Fur is dominating many runways this season during Milan Fashion Week.
MILAN (AP) - Fur is dominating many Milan runways this season, which would be handy for this week s unusually persistent snowy weather.
From big shaggy coats, often belted, to furry little details, fur has made a firm comeback for next winter s womenswear with a classic mink coat returning after many seasons.
Many of the looks presented Sunday and over the first five days of Milan Fashion Week have been dyed in pinks, blues, reds, yellows and fake animal prints. When they are not using real fur, the designers have made fur look-alikes, such as mohair.
Huge cuffs, hemlines and collars accented classic tailoring for both coats and dresses.
Fur is also being used to compensate for all that bare skin designers are showing: A stole wrap over a strapless dress, or long fur gloves with sleeveless jackets. There were even furry boots and furry bags.
Some of the most imaginative uses were for shawls, wraps and stoles, allowing people with more limited budgets to experiment with the looks.
"La Dolce Vita" was the name of the game at Dolce&Gabbana, where the fun-loving designing duo recalled the sacred and profane of mundane Italian life, as exposed in director Federico Fellini s 1960 movie.
The winter collection shown drew inspiration from Byzantine religious art and classic couture.
The show opened with a series of dresses in mosaic patterned silk, dripping with encrusted jewels and at times depicting an iconic image of a saint. Some of the outfits came with irreverent mini-bloomers.
To accessorize these already ornate outfits, the models wore a gilded crown, necklaces featuring a large Byzantine cross, heavy pendant earrings and velvet pumps with a thick jewel-encrusted heel.
Then came the couture look.
This evoked fancy ladies in demure sling backs and hair pulled back a la Princess Grace, wearing melange white and gray tweed suits with fitted jacket and flared skirt, or simple short-sleeved sheath dress.
Next followed a series of black silk dresses interspersed with lace, which could reference either a Sicilian widow s wardrobe (Sicily is the designing duo s trademark inspiration) or sophisticated cocktail hour attire, or even priestly garb.
The same outfits came in (papal?) white or (cardinal?) red, both liturgical colors much in vogue at the moment as cardinals prepare to gather in Rome to elect a new pope.
No matter the color, the outfits were heavily bejeweled.
