Style PS - Times Online - WBLG

VERSACE: SHINES WITHOUT THE BLING

SHORT REVIEW: Sleek daywear and sculptural evening wear add up to a great looking collection
LONG REVIEW:
The house of Versace is well known for it’s eveningwear but Donatella put a new focus on daywear with a parade of short, sassy well-cut coats, and sleek dresses. For evening, there were sculptural gowns which oozed modern sophistication. This great-looking collection was pared down and controlled but not contrived. And even though she has embraced a sculpted silhouette, Donatella still knows how to have fun. She threw a hot pink fur coat into the mix to provide a seasoning of bad taste and a passage of dresses featuring garish collage prints done in collaboration with the artist he Dutch artist Tim Roeloffs served as an alternative to the traditional Versace bling. CLAUDIA CROFT

GUCCI: RUSSIAN PEASANT MEETS HENDRIX

SHORT REVIEW: GLOSSY TRENDS BUT ARE THEY TOO EASY TO FOLLOW?
LONG REVIEW:
Gucci is becoming a weather vane for the most commercial of trends and this season Russsian peasant meets Jimmy Hendrix looks will probably fly and not just at Gucci stores. Frida Giannini’s work has plenty of glossy appeal and it can be easily understood beyond the realms of luxury fashion but it can be, and is, all too easily replicated. Thanks to Giannini, you can bet the UK high street will be full of little embroidered Cossack jackets and winter party dresses in those prints. Nobody could doubt the luxury and the finish at Gucci, but other design houses have responded to the problem of copyists by making things the high street could never rip off. CLAUDIA CROFT

BOTTEGA VENETA: Modern and confident

SHORT REVIEW: Dignified, feminine, luxurious. What’s not to like?
LONG REVIEW: Some designers think it’s all about sobriety, others think a frumpy hemline best reflects the times. Bottega Veneta’s Tomas Maier, however, gave such a strong endorsement of the womanly silhouette that it was hard to critique. These were clothes that kissed the body in an adoring, sensual way. Maier never strayed into fetish or played on cliché. He is a confident designer making clothes for confident women.  CLAUDIA CROFT 

CAVALLI: TRADES SEX FOR SOMETHING MORE SEDATE

SHORT REVIEW: Where has the famous Cavalli mojo gone?
LONG REVIEW: 
1950’S prom dresses and a finale full of pretty girls in tiaras? What’s happened at Roberto Cavalli? The man for whom raunch and luxury always went hand in hand has put away his famous mojo and turned to the Doris Day decade for inspiration. The results were a little deflating. The show opened with a series of dresses which lightly referenced Dior’s New Look and then moved on to some highly worked peasant chic coats and beaded evening dresses which showed off the signature Cavalli luxury. But the confident sexuality usually associated with the brand was missing. Afterwards the designer called for women to cover up and hunker down in something warm and sensible, to which one attractive thirty something buyer said; “I’m a single woman. There’s no way I’m covering up.” Women don’t look to Cavalli to reflect harsh economic times. They don’t expect him to be sensitive to the zeitgeist. They go to Cavalli to feel sexy, gorgeous and irresistible. Not his season though. CLAUDIA CROFT.

PRADA: POWERFUL AND SOMBRE

SHORT REVIEW: Strict, powerful, beautiful. If this is austerity dressing I’ll take every piece.
LONG REVIEW:
Designer’s are grappling and aesthetic response to gloomy economic prospects. Many have decided that a version of covered up sensible chic is what’s needed. Hemlines have dropped and sex has fallen off the agenda. But if we are in for a period of austerity chic, then you can trust Miuccia Prada to turn the whole concept on its head.  For autumn/winter 08 her silhouettes were long and lean and the key item was a fitted black lace shift. It was sometimes worn with a crisp blue man’s shirt underneath, or sometimes accessorised with strange modular pieces like with a clip-on nylon peplum or nude, bandage like neck cuff. The models looked as strict as Mrs Danvers with their hair pulled back from pale faces into leaser cut leather snoods.
There was nothing frivolous about the collection, which had an air of sombre grandeur – watching the models process, was as Marigay McKee, the flamboyant Harrods buyer said “like being at a mafia boss’s funeral in Sicily”. The only flare was in the winged shoes, which looked like they stepped straight out of a futurist manifesto. So Prada presented an austere restrained collection to suit the times, but here’s the twist. That lace is hand made in Switzerland and costs E 600 a metre, which makes Prada’s version of austerity chic a very expensive indeed.  And all those sensual womanly shapes will serve to drive customers into the shops to buy, buy, buy. Who needs recession dressing when you have Prada? CLAUDIA CROFT

Gianfranco Ferré:

SHORT REVIEW: It looked more like an ode to Ricardo Tisci’s gothic inclined Givenchy than Gianfranco Ferré
LONG REVIEW: The house of Ferré is in disarray. Lars Nilsson, The designer appointed to take over after the death of founder Gianfranco Ferré, was dramatically sacked just two weeks before the A/W 08 show – apparently for straying too far from the Ferre legacy.  According to insiders, a large part of his collection was scrapped and the remaining design team were ordered to whip up something new from scratch. They came up with a edgy monochromatic look full of and sculpted cuts which referenced Ferré, but it looked very akin to Ricardo Tisci’s gothic inclined work at Givenchy than anything Ferré might have done (I’m blaming the bone white tights for that). Given the turmoil, it could have looked a whole lot worse than it did, but the decision makers at Ferré had better get their house in order next season CLAUDIA CROFT

BURBERRY PRORSUM: A COAT LOVER'S PARADISE

SHORT REVIEW: Full of “I want it” pieces. 
LONG REVIEW: As the first outfit came out a little voice in my head said “I want it! I want an oversized mannish coat!” The little voice didn't shut up. This season Christopher Bailey excelled at making the kind of clothes that inspire lust. I wanted those bell bottom flares (well I wanted to be skinny enough to wear them). I wanted the quilted version of the iconic mac. I wanted the slouchy, metal studded shopper and the even wanted the funny, grungy beanie hats that accompanied every look. Best of all were the coats. It wouldn’t be a Burberry show without a restyled mac.  This time they came in quilt, gabardine and chinchilla and for evening Bailey provided macs made from ruched chiffon and petals of silk. It was all clever enough to make the heart beat a little faster but straightforward enough to slip into any modern wardrobe.CLAUDIA CROFT

D&G: THE QUEEN GETS A MAKE-OVER

SHORT REVIEW: Forget sex and sass. The Queen is the surprising new muse for D&G’S homage to HRH chic.
LONG REVIEW:
You imagine the D&G girl to be the first one to start the dancing and the last one to go home. The brand excels at making sassy, sexy youthful clothes. Well, for autumn winter 08 the D&G girl had a conversion of sorts. Gone are the short hemlines and bosomy tops of the good time girl. In are the midi-length kilts, corduroy skirts, twin sets and headscarves of Queen Elisabeth II. The D&G collection was based on the off duty, dog walking uniform of HRH. The Italian designer’s had enough respect for our head of state not to sex her up and put her in a tartan version of their signature bustier although they did send her on a psychedelic odyssey, fusing her traditional tartans with brightly coloured paisley prints for full skirts and must-have bell bottoms. The collection was all very tongue in cheek, but a midi length tartan kilt is still a midi-length tartan kilt whether it’s done by D&G or the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. You can’t be sexy every season and for Autumn/Winter 08, the legendary D&G sass has been replaced with humour. The question is, will the brand's young, gregarious fans get the joke? CLAUDIA CROFT

ARMANI: JACKETS AND GYPSIES

SHORT REVIEW: Gives his customers what they crave, but adds a little surprise.

LONG REVIEW:
‘The thing about the Armani woman, is that she loves a jacket,” said an American buyer to a TV crew, right after the Giorgio Armani show. The thing about Armani, the man, is that he is always more attentive to his customers needs than prevailing fashion trends (it’s what has helped build his brand into the biggest in fashion). So if the Armani woman wants a jacket that’s what she gets. Out they came in huge variety - nipped in and short, longer and more mannish, in quilt tweed, velvet and matt wool. They were worn with bubble-hemmed skirts or Armani’s take on harem pants. For evening the mood changed. Jackets were replaced by fringed, floral shawls and fringed evening gowns which had a haute gypsy feel. The surprise here is that the gypsy look is set to be a big trend (Armani usually rises serenely above the trends). Other Italian houses including Roberto Cavalli and the much-copied Gucci have done versions of the look. CLAUDIA CROFT

ALBERTA FERRETTI: COMFORT ZONE DRESSING

SHORT REVIEW: Full of fine woman-friendly dresses but where was the tailoring?
LONG REVIEW:
Alberta Ferreetti was in the mood for dresses. From the swirl printed loose silk smocks, to the sack-back satin shifts, soft velvet dresses gently gathered at the waist and the delicate ruched chiffon frocks that Ferretti excels at, it was a frock fest from start to finish. Ferretti can’t be faulted for focusing on what she does best. She stayed within her comfort zone but in doing so one couldn’t help thinking something was missing from this collection. Tailoring was all but absent which is a shame. In previous seasons Ferretti has shown that her label can be a go-to brand for fantastic winter coats a well as covetable dresses. CLAUDIA CROFT