Milan Fashion Week opened with a stunning Japanese-inspired collection on Wednesday, as Gucci gave pyjama suits and long dresses a sensual twist with bell sleeves and billowing ruffled necklines.
A sunny palette employed for Gucci's Spring 2013 collection is indicative of an optimistic state of mind — and after last season's rich, glamorous outing of all black everything, this house needed a happy jolt of color.
“These are portraits of aristocratic women, evoking a strong allure with a clean, precise, defined aesthetic,” said Giannini, whose “aristographic” look featured high necklines and sharp cuts which seduced in their simplicity.
The hot pinks, seafoam greens, lemon yellows, and shades of blue Frida Giannini sent down the runway in Milan this afternoon were spot-on trend with this season's wider color story. But where others created volume from the waist down, this designer focused on sleeves and necklines. Ruffles added a flirtatious softness to shirts and dresses — on one, the treatment started at the neck and snaked all the way down the wearer's right arm. Bishop and angel sleeves abounded on solid colored garments, too — and it was hard not to appreciate that these effects weren't extended to the few printed garments in the collection.
But Giannini can still do not-so-basic black. Toward the end of the collection, she phased in two dresses and some separates in the color that incorporated her sleeves and ruffles. They were a lovely homage to Gucci's modern black moment (see: Tom Ford in the late '90s), but we wouldn't have missed them.
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