It's interesting to chart the rise of the one-look show this season. The content and intent of the runway parade—if not its format, which is the same as ever—is beginning to change. Some designers and companies, it seems, are gambling that the communication of a single unmissable message, repeated over and over, might have more impact than a "collection," in the old sense of the term. Christopher Kane did that with his gingham checks and ivory thigh-split pleats; Burberry did it with its trenches and draping; and now Alberta Ferretti has done the same, in a show that left no doubt that her thing is the romantic chiffon dress.
For Ferretti, it's a marketing policy that has merit. In a season when drifty, gauzy things are a topic, she's smart to claim the territory. After all, even when chiffonery isn't the general trend, that's what women go to this label to find—an accessible, feminine dress for a special occasion.
Her fluttery frocks came in this season's pale palette of lingerie pinks, ivory, and cloudy beiges (embroidered with flowers or a bit of sparkle, to taste), but fragile as they may be, they actually constitute one of Milan's more robust fit-for-purpose fashion products. Not that there wasn't a little variation: As well as the young-nymph-in-a-vintage-nightie option, there were taffeta trenchcoats (good for a summer cover-up) and even an ivory suit with crinkle-pleated panels in front—ideal, perhaps, for a wedding, the second or third time around.
