Some fashion shows are like a trip without the acid. Or, at least, a ticket to a wingy elsewhere. Free your mind, and Anna Molinari's show today could be viewed as a country-house costume-box production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Think Art Deco fairies. Handkerchief-hemmed chiffons, Delphic knife pleats, moonlit trims of silver lace, and a shimmering haltered smock went a long way toward evoking an ethereal Other. The past echoed effortlessly in other areas of the collection. Coppery draped lamé, slinky black silks, the quintessentially Deco shades of mauve and eau de nil, and the vaguely Japanese floral beading had an odor of period decadence. But it was definitely more downtown than Downton.
