Milan Fashion Week: Burberry Prorsum sends a raft of raffia down the runway

The runway at Burberry was a hurricane of handcrafted detail -- from the crocheted raffia caps all the way down to the cork-soled leather loafers with raffia contrasts, if there was an opportunity to make something look hand-hewn (wood toggle buttons on jackets) hand-sewn (shirts with chunky felt bird appliques blanket-stitched over the heart), hand-shredded (raffia trim on jackets) or hand-beaded (detachable crochet collars set with wooden beads), chief creative officer Christopher Bailey seized it with gusto.

Bailey's goal wasn't to create a collection that would be instantly recognizable by feel in a darkened room (though he did do that); he was trying to celebrate craftsmanship. This was a theme that was bubbling up through several other shows on the first day of Milan Fashion Week (most notably John Varvatos), but Bailey really hammered home the point: In this day and age, when technology has made it possible to do to a garment almost anything that can be imagined (except for that whole cloak of invisibility thing), true luxury now means doing it by hand.

Bailey did it in an over-the-top fashion (I'm not sure exactly where those raffia caps belong -- except maybe on the Jamaican bobsled team or the dudes circle-dancing at the Coachella Music Festival) but maybe he's just overcompensating a bit since Burberry's been pushing the digital envelope just about as hard as he's been mining the brand's heritage, and this collection could be ordered instantly at the Burberry website.

There were explicit nods to the brand's heritage beneath the raft of raffia -- a check lining here, a few throat latches there, some gabardine, some trench coats and a liberal sprinkling of the Burberry crest.

But the takeaway was unmistakable: the slow fashion movement has crept in on little cork soles.

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-- Adam Tschorn in Milan

Photos: Looks from the Burberry Prorsum spring and summer 2012 men's runwway collection, shown on June 18, 2011, during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Olivier Morin / AFP/Getty Images

Milan Fashion Week: John Varvatos strikes a chord with dusty duds and hand-painted roses

For his spring and summer 2012 collection, John Varvatos sent his collection out between huge rusty gates covered with ivy and down a dusty brick runway. The inspiration was country -– not the cowboy hat, bangin’ belt buckle and Grand Ole Opry kind of country, but the fleeing the city, “Exile on Main Street,” unplug and reboot kind.

In his show notes, Varvatos pointed to the early ‘70s when rock groups like the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin and The Who “fled to the country for inspiration and a break from the big city,” pointing out that they returned “having recorded what arguably would be their most creative and innovative albums.”

Varvatos said this collection was inspired by that “sense of freedom and a nod to perfect imperfection” of those rock sojourns into the countryside, and it made the most memorable collection from the designer in many a season.

Not so much for the slouchy silhouette (though they were certainly more slouchy and relaxed than in the past), the shades of slate gray (although the heavy dose of khaki here was refreshing) and assorted military-inspired jackets (if we’re all wearing bandleader jackets, who will follow?), which have been the line’s signature look for the last decade, but for the treatments and detailing that gave jackets, trousers and boots a hard-worn, dust-covered look, the lightweight cold-dyed American flag scarves and particularly the handful of pieces in the collection with a rose motif – the first graphic of any kind I can recall seeing in the line. It appeared as an allover print on a gray plaid suit, and on several other jackets and trousers -– including one suit that had the tendrils of the plant in what looked like black leather (Varvatos later told me it was actually fashioned out of a black shoe lace), curl out of the rose on the right side of the jacket and seemingly connect to the rose and leaf graphic growing up the right pant leg.

“I was channeling my inner Jimmy Page,” Varvatos said after the show, referring to the Led Zepplin guitarist’s famed “dragon suit” stage garb. And, while the designer’s aesthetic has always been rooted in rock ‘n’ roll, this is one of his suits that might truly be worthy of invoking the name of such a rock deity. Each of those roses (except on the allover print) was individually hand-painted by associate designer Yoon Nam. (Despite the intricate level of detail, Nam told me at a post-show party he was able to dispatch each one in an hour and a half. When I asked him how, his answer was: “Practice.”)

But Nam needn’t worry about spending the rest of his life marooned on trellis island -- the hand-painted suits aren’t intended for mass production. They’re intended to be limited-edition pieces and only about 50 will be sold altogether, through select John Varvatos boutiques (including the West Hollywood location).

In the end, it wasn’t really freedom Varvatos seemed to find out in the countryside, but an appreciation for the hand-crafted and the artisanal -- things that don’t just look like they were made by the sweat of the brow and treated to look like they were caked with the dust of the doing, but things that actually were.

And in doing so, Varvatos may have followed in the footsteps of the very rock gods he worships and put out one of his most creative, hand-crafted and thoughtful collections to date.

-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: Looks from the John Varvatos spring / summer 2012 runway in Milan. Credit: Gerardo Somoza

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Milan Fashion Week: Nothin' but net for Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana's spring and summer collection drew inspiration from nets -- the kind found on fishing trawlers and soccer fields and that other Net, with its sticky, narcissistic web of social media that amplifies while it also distorts.

The first manifested itself in the fabrication, with micro-perforated belts and leather jackets with holes as fine as a kitchen colander, loose, loopy sweaters and shirts with holes big enough to poke three fingers through.

Some laser-cut leather pieces, particularly jackets and shoes, were as sharp as graph paper. Others seemed woven into a loose grid in a simple over-under fashion out of cord the diameter of clothesline. Still other pieces -- accessories including belts and bags -- were characterized by a  tighter, lattice-like weave.

Transparent, mesh-like netting was used as the outer layer of long-sleeve shirts and trousers, lined with washed cotton poplin T-shirts and shorts, and different styles of netting were paired together on the same model -- and occasionally  in the same mixed-fabrication garment.

In the best pieces, the fabric and net-like construction brought out the best in the design -- allowing leather bomber jackets to hang as lightly on the body as diaphanous silk, for example.

In a few manifestations, the idea was taken too far -- most memorably in a gray sweater with licorice-stick-sized loose ends standing at attention on the shoulders and yoke (like Pinhead from "Hellraiser" might wear). 

Milan Fashion Week: Zegna takes a silky, sunbleached stroll on the sand

For spring and summer 2012, Ermenegildo Zegna was all about silk and sunbleach at the beach, sending a light and airy collection down the runway in a range of washed-out hues -- pale sky blue, seafoam green and shell white.

  Fabric-wise, the emphasis was on texture, tweaking the smoothness of silk by resin-treating, creasing and crinkling it and using it in suits, safari jackets and trench coats, or blending it with cotton and waxing it for jackets and raincoats.

The crinkle-fest continued in the trouser department, with linen trousers and suede jogging pants that looked like they'd spent a summer  balled up in the hamper of a Hampton's beach house, and chenille polos that looked like rain-dappled silk.

Zegna even managed to make the traditionally bulky looking double-breasted blazer seem light as air with a new, unlined version of the classic silhouette looking beach comfortable right off the runway.

While spring and summer collections inevitably veer toward the beachy keen, Zegna's minimalist approach to the marine motif was as light and breezy as the clothes that came down the catwalk.

-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan

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Photos: Looks from the Ermenegildo Zegna spring / summer 2012 runway in Milan. Credit: Ermenegildo Zegna.

Milan Fashion Week: Jimmy Choo SS12

For the first spring and summer collection of its relaunched men's footwear business, Jimmy Choo has added a dash of vibrant spring color and expanded its casual classifications, adding driving moccasins, sandals and even an uber-luxe skate-inspired slip-on.

The label's tasseled take on the driving moccasin -- most eye-catching in Yves Klein blue or yellow suede, switches out the traditional pebbled sole for a debossed crocodile-skin pattern and elongates the silhouette for a more elegant look.

The Choo boat shoe pairs a white sole with a denim-like canvas upper with mock crocodile trim, and the new range of strappy leather sandals has cuoio (natural leather) footbeds on top of rubber soles and kicks things up a notch with pewter-stud details.

Also new is the label's luxury version of the slip-on sneaker -- inspired by the venerable skate shoe, most memorable of which are a busy floral pattern and a Union Jack design (which also appears on a version of the formal slipper this season).

The Bond-inspired "porno paisley" velvet jacquard introduced last season is not only back again -- in new pink and turquoise colorways -- but the burlesque beauty hidden in that design  expands her role, appearing on the pewter "penny" tucked into the brand's new penny-loafer silhouette. (At this rate, she's well on her way to becoming a high-end version of the "mud flap" girl.)

When I saw the debut fall and winter 2011 collection in Milan last season -- the one that hits stores in July -- the retail distribution hadn't been determined, but I'm told it includes  Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

Most styles will retail from $597 to $795, with the skate shoe and the driving moccasins coming in slightly lower, at $495, and some higher -- like the blue crocodile formal slippers, which will cost a cool $18,000.

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-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan

Photos: Jimmy Choo's first spring and summer collection expands into sandals, driving moccasins and skate-inspired slip-ons. Credit: Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times

Four fashion weeks, hundreds of ways to look stylish this fall

New York, London, Milan, Paris. Los Angeles Times fashion critic Booth Moore spent the last month in a whirlwind of runway shows in the world's style capitals, eyeing designers' visions for women's ready-to-wear for fall-winter 2011. She reported many of the details in All the Rage posts filed from the shows.

Before she hopped on a plane home from Paris last week, she sent us a story summarizing the best of Paris' fine fashion, which you can read here.

Then she distilled all of the hundreds of offerings from all four cities into her picks for the top five trends (hint: how often do you see the words "glam" and "grunge" juxtaposed?). Read about it here.

But Booth knows that what the designers imagine on the runways is only a part of the story. It's also important to know how retail buyers react to it, because they are the conduits from the catwalk to your closet. She asked a few of the most influential to share their thoughts on the season's big ideas and must-haves.

Grab a mimosa and settle down with your laptop. If you're a true fashionista, you'll want to check out what Booth and the retailers have to say -- and review our galleries of photos shot on the runways too.

-- Susan Denley

Photo: A look from the John Galliano fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fasion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Top 10 shows from New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Week

If you're in fashion withdrawal because the fall-winter 2011 women's ready-to-wear shows in  New York, London, Milan and Paris are over, fear not. You can revisit them by taking a look at my top 10 shows of the season:

Prabal Gurung

Jason Wu

Rodarte

Erdem

Marni

Bottega Veneta

Jil Sander

Haider Ackermann

Alexander McQueen

Lanvin

Check out a photo gallery of looks from all the top shows here.

-- Booth Moore

Photos from left: Looks from the Marni, Prabal Gurung and Jason Wu fall-winter 2011 runway collections. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Milan Fashion Week: The top shows and takeaways

The big news in Milan was the continued interest in updating classic couture shapes with unusual colors, fabrications and surface embellishments.

We saw it done best at Jil Sander, where designer Raf Simons made outsize drop-shoulder coats, tunics and dresses with martingale belts look completely modern, by showing them with sleek, skiwear-inspired knits and stirrup pants.

At Bottega Veneta, Tomas Maier used ladylike, 1960s-inspired coats and sleeveless shift dresses as canvases for incredible work with layers of lace and print.

The 1960s trend took a mod turn at Versace, Alberta Ferretti and most notably at Prada, where coats and coatdresses with low-slung belts came in solids, windowpane checks, decorated with contrast piping, shag fur or silver-dollar sized paillettes.

Fashion's love affair with fur is still going strong. Marni's Consuelo Castiglione was the most inventive with fur, showing a modern-looking, zip-front mink blouson jacket, a full-length fur coat sheared into a diamond pattern, and a stiff, molded black leather jacket with a broadtail hem.

Also carrying over from spring, vivid color, seen most clearly at Gucci. Forest green, rust, mustard yellow, peach and teal blue were all hot hues, used to spectacular effect in Fendi's collection of arty, English country chic.

As for accessories, the Mary Jane with a chunky heel is the must-have. And why carry just one bag when you can carry two?

Now onto Paris. But not before naming the top five collections out of Milan: Bottega Veneta. Fendi, Marni, Prada and Jil Sander.

--Booth Moore in Milan

PHOTOS: Milan Fashion Week fall-winter 2011 top five shows photo gallery

Photos: Looks from the Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Prada, Marni, Gucci and Fendi fall-winter 2011 runway collections shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Milan Fashion Week: Giorgio Armani steps into the boudoir

It was another great collection from Giorgio Armani. He was inspired by "the boudoir," a theme that played well with his soft tailoring skills.

The new trousers for fall were cropped, cuffed and slightly flared (to show off a great pair of heels or lace booties). In pale pink satin, worn with a plush gray bed jacket, they purred sex kitten.

But in fluid black silk with a new, longer-length blazer, or black velvet worn with a silvery beaded jacket for evening, the trousers were classically elegant.

Lantern skirts on their own were a bit silly, especially one that looked like fur. But as the bottom of a strapless dress covered in pale pink rosettes, the lantern shape not only worked, it made the model look like she was gliding down the runway.

Still, my favorite dress was one of the simplest. Long sleeved, and buttoned at the side, it was worn over pants. Everyone is showing that this season. But don't hold that against it. The fabric was unforgettable -- an iridescent gray silk chiffon that shined like a pearl.

Armani even had a moment making fun of himself, sending out a tunic emblazoned with his own vanity shot. 

-- Booth Moore in Milan, Italy

PHOTOS: Giorgio Armani fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

Photos: Some of the looks from the Giorgio Armani fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For the Los Angeles Times

Milan Fashion Week: Sprinkling stardust at Versus

Watching Christopher Kane's Versus show just hours before the Oscars were set to begin on Sunday, I thought, "Get this man to Hollywood!"

But really, the collection (from Versace's secondary line) was chock-full of pieces that would find favor on the red carpet any day of the week.

It was all about lingerie-like effects--black coats, jackets and little black dresses (for day and night) with sheer bodice detailing and boning. And sparkle! Nordic sweaters were reworked in Lurex; glitter block prints were splashed across glam pants, skirts and sleeveless dresses.

Some pieces were so glitter-coated that the models walking down the runway left glitter in their wake. How great is that?

--Booth Moore in Milan

PHOTOS: Versus fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

Photos: Looks from the Versus fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.