When last we left the Giulietta girl, she was on a Mediterranean island somewhere, going native with peasant blouses and scarf prints. For pre-fall, a naval influence reigned. With her Cinemascope imagination, designer Sofia Sizzi is now picturing her muse sailing homeward—and borrowing a few pieces from a navy man or two on the way.
If there was any question which way the winds of inspiration blew at the presentation, the assistant signaling models with semaphore flags quickly put it to rest. Those flags turned up in mutant form on Sizzi's big story of the season (and a new offering for the label): silk-blend knits, which echoed the flag's graphic, geometric patterns, most successfully in a camel and black turtleneck. Other sweaters looked a bit busy, a land-bound shopper would have to concede. But there were plenty of smart, dressy little pieces in Giulietta's no-nonsense chic, while a few more playful items, like a pinafore-style minidress with a plissé inset panel, lent more levity than anything in Sizzi's previous, slightly monastic collections. Even so, she's detail-oriented as ever, right down to the button—custom-made, by the way, by jeweler Thomas Bliven, who also contributed the fleur-de-lis-stamped belt buckles.
