The runway's love affair with Russia continues. Its latest paramour is Canali. But as Elisabetta Canali explained backstage after the show, that made a kind of meet-me-in-Saint Petersburg sense. "It's the most Italian city in Eastern Europe," she said. "It was designed by Italian architects." Russian style, Canali style—they've got at least a love of luxe in common. For years, Canali has been bolder than some of the other lines in its Italian-suiting age bracket, parading deep colors and pastels, but Fall added texture and skin to the mix. You could curtain a decadent's villa with the collection's total velvet order, cut into suits and a show-closing series of jewel-toned trenches lined in silk. Astrakhan was only one level down: It came in tucked scarves or coat collars, the most lavish on a full-length shaved black mink. Wretched excess may have been occasionally skirted, but the colors—jewel tones of petrol blue, plum, and brick; Rothko colors, Canali explained—were lovely, and the suits, under all those coats, sharp. The more-is-more crowd may well eat up the rest. Canali does a brisk business in Russia, Elisabetta revealed. All signs point to it getting even better now.
