GIF: Alberta Ferretti, Fausto Puglisi, s/s 2015 - Getty
makes beautiful, dreamily romantic clothes and last night’s collection in Milan was no exception. With a nude palette, she painted a picture of an ethereal young woman in nude silk, white cotton and pastel organza sprinkled with flowers.
‘I wanted to express the sense of freedom possessed by women who think for themselves,’ she said. And while it’s hard to imagine anyone making an empowering statement in a long, transparent, powder-pink dress with fragile lace creeping up the hem, you could still imagine women falling in love with these clothes – especially on their wedding day. Many of the long dresses, with tenderly pin-tucked waists, their skirts decorated with petals or thick macramé lace, were the stuff a modern bride might dream of – and for the alternative bride, how about look 12, a softly pleated nude jumpsuit?
The items bordering on urban life came in pale blue denim: a pair of jeans, narrow skirt and full dress, all with transparent hems. Ferretti worked in some less successful prints that, with vibrant blooms bordered in black stripes, recalled the by-now dated digital-print era. But she came back with a finale of white broderie anglaise (a guaranteed fabric trend for Milan this spring/summer season) and put them with long tan suede tassled waistcoats that gave the collection its bohemian vibe – the 1970s is already brewing as a sure-fire hit after .
Image: Fausto Puglisi, Alberta Ferretti, Fausto Puglisi, s/s 2015 - IMAXTREE
Meanwhile, ended the day with a bang. Where Ferretti creates soft-focus romance, Puglisi makes sexy, graphic, knicker-skimming, bra-toting clothes for the girl in the band – or the band’s groupies? Like Ferretti, he does his thing without apology: this is what I do, love it or leave it. He also serves it all up with such relish – with thumping rock on the soundtrack and on glossy babes that power-stomp down the runway – that it’s hard not to be infected by his passion.
Puglisi worked for Gianni and then Donatella Versace, and it shows – it’s in the same brittle, rock 'n' roll sexiness, except his clothes are geared to the Versace woman’s daughter. This season, she’s part mod in monochrome prints, part gladiator girl in strappy, flat studded sandals and glass-jewelled skirts. She wears her micro mini over leggings in optical-print circles and squares, and her bra-top with a stiff A-line skirt patched in gold and black. She likes her coats and sweatshirts big and her colours loud: orange or lime. Her leather vest and favourite gold dress are slashed with holes, and the boy from the band let her borrow his big black leather jacket. She’s going to have a fun time no matter what, and in luxury-level clothes that pulse with energy.
