MFW: Burberry checks in with a nod to nostalgia

MILAN -- With the economic news growing more dire by the day, fashion in the lightning speed form as we have come to know it is in danger of becoming a dirty word. Even its most ardent supporters, glossy editors, are staying out of the stores. So it's no wonder many designers are banking on nostalgia to pull on the heartstrings and the purse strings this fall.

Few people have as much to draw from as Christopher Bailey at Burberry Prorsum. Gone were the hyper luxe (and hyper expensive) warrior studs and gilded feathers that have made the brand a fashion front-runner in the past few seasons. Instead, the classic wardrobe of British country life took center stage -- a wise business decision perhaps, but a bit disappointing aesthetically.

Comfort came under the cloak of oversized, blanket-like outerwear -- trench coats in doeskin, bonded cotton, or tweed, some with full skirts.

Underneath, there were white cotton bibbed shirt dresses, twist-front tweed dresses, Aran sweaters worn over faded plaid kilts, and menswear-inspired pinstripe pants and oversized white shirts. Lug sole wedge desert boots added an outdoorsy feel. 

Evening looks were very covered up -- paneled plisse dresses in regal shades of ink blue and plum, full-skirted dresses in gold tapestry florals or aristocratic-looking portrait prints.

Dormant for several years because it had become so copied, the Nova check reappeared like a long-lost friend, on large satchels and the inside of mink snoods. And when the models took their final spin, of course it was to Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill." 

-- Booth Moore

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Photo: A look from Burberry Prorsum women's fall runway collection at Milan fashion week. Luca Bruno / Associated Press