Anna Molinari's new Blumarine shop on the Avenue Montaigne was the ostensible inspiration for her Fall line—a photograph of the storefront was projected on a screen behind the runway, and an aerial view of the famous Parisian thoroughfare was emblazoned on the outside of her tent. But the feel of the clothes themselves was less French than homegrown; it looked as if Molinari had stolen a page from her countryman Roberto Cavalli's vampy playbook. The show opened with lace-edged silk slipdresses topped by fluffy angora cardigans in matching candy shades. No matter the hour of the day or night, it's apparently never too early for a bit of sparkle: A puffer vest worn with a white blouse and bell-bottom jeans was just as likely to be embellished with sequins as a draped jersey gown. And there was even a racy overscale leopard print. She used it for a trench, a plunge-front dress, and a strapless frock with a flirty ruffled bodice.
This collection was Molinari playing against type—it happened to work on that leopard-print strapless dress, but more often it came off as, well, a little tarty. Those who miss her signature sweetness will have to settle for a blush-pink bejeweled cardigan worn with a frilly skirt in a matching shade of chiffon—or wait for next season.
