Milan Fashion Week: Gucci All Aflutter for Spring 2013
Gucci was all aflutter for Spring 2013, with oversized cuffs and collars wafting breezily on otherwise clean, monochrome silhouettes slightly reminiscent of 1970s long-waisted pantsuits and caftans. Lengths for pants and most dresses were floor-sweeping, just barely allowing toes to peep out.
Key colors for this Milan show were pink camellia, electric blue, sea-foam greens and blues, and a bright sunny gold. It was as if Frida Giannini were ready for not only Spring but Summer with these colors; maybe it was the influence of the hot Italian summer of 2012 still hanging on while she and her team created this collection.
For all black eveningwear Giannini clad the shoulders in large open calibrated webs, which beautifully met solid horizontal sheaths of fitted silk just above the breast line. While the full-length look here was one of the few without any fluttering details, the knee length option consisted of large sheer plumes of material ballooning out for sleeves and tapering at the wrists.
The less successful looks were those which broke the sleek monochrome sensibility with color-dabbed snakeskin and a swirly chrysanthemum-like fantasia.
Accessories were delicious, as usual: heels with ankle cuffs using more leather than the entire rest of the shoe, and jewelry, even if used sparely, was made of hundreds of tiny components. An elaborate coral neckpiece and matching earrings, set against a crisp white gown, were especially noteworthy.
