The first dress, a nude draped halter with subtle accents of yellow at the ruffled neckline, suggested we might be in for a new Blumarine—if not minimal (come on, who are we kidding?) then at least more restrained. But Anna Molinari is a designer who never met a sequin she didn't like, and after that sexy, almost spare warmup, it was back to the embellishments that she knows best. A lush floral watercolor print alternately brightened up a belted dress; high-waisted, tapering pants; and a floor-length gown with a hip-high slit. Beads and, yes, sequins made multiple appearances—on her familiar cardigans, at the necklines of tanks and the waistbands of pants, and in a dégradé effect on a va-va-voom cocktail number. They also showed up in more girlish, floral patterns on a group of blush-colored dresses.
The draped tulle goddess minidresses and gowns were a welcome reprieve from all that glitter—they'll play with the Hollywood starlet set. Molinari is clearly quite comfortable with her formula, but it'd be nice to see her push a little further into new territory.
