Leopard spots, Stephen Sprouse, and Andy Warhol gone Latin: Those were the unmissables at Anna Molinari's relentlessy cheerful Blumarine. Unless Azzedine Alaïa is seriously put out by the referencing of his seminal eighties leopard signatures—from top to toe, not forgetting the matching clutch—it was hard to imagine anyone feeling curmudgeonly about the sheer brazen up-ness of it all. If ragazzi just wanna have fun next fall, this is a company that will deliver it—in neons with crystal, and featuring lots of sexy "biker" and Balmain-esque jacket-and-flashy-jeans combos as further options.
Shamelessly kitsch the show may have been—Ms. Molinari projected a pseudo-Warhol portrait of herself on the backdrop—but, funnily enough the content was not 100 percent cheese. The designer's Italian-quality knitwear holds up to scrutiny, and when her sweater dresses were paired with well-tailored coats, it qualified as a reasonably chic grown-up look. All that was forgotten, of course, once she started up with the sub-Warhol flower-print leggings, sugar-pastel satin mini-suits, and an orgy of neon leopard chiffon disco gowns. Then again, the single-minded mission to keep good-time girls happy in a bad time also has a certain honor in it.
