Given the difficult circumstances in which it was created, it's small wonder that the new Missoni collection wanted to take refuge under the covers and make the world go away. The clothes retreated into the sanctuary of the boudoir, with flowing, languid lines that echoed pajamas and bathrobes, or huge, schmoodgy blanket wraps that suggested consummate coziness, even in a shawl-collared, tuxedo-styled version.
But there was another, tougher voice in the collection: fishnet tights and boots, metallic jacquards in simple sixties-styled shifts or elongated tubes, liquid leathers, and sinuous jerseys with sheer panels that randomly revealed bits of the body. Missoni's classic techniques were radically reconfigured with bold new techno-dégradé inflections in acid colors.
The two impulses—cocooning and confrontation—were tricky bedfellows. Missoni's current challenge is clearly to reconcile them.
