Missoni's Spring collection floated away on an updraft of abstraction, but Fall saw a welcome return to earth. In her substantial, man-styled outerwear and Elmer Fudd hat, this woman was going hunting in the urban jungle. And Missoni guaranteed that she was doing it in knitwear. A good 80 percent of the collection was knitted, even when it looked like fabric. "We did a lot of research specifically into texture, to give the knits structure," said Angela Missoni. So wool was felted, boiled, double-faced, furred, and undoubtedly creatively abused in other ways to help it stand up to the city dweller's demand for utility and convenience. It is usually color that elevates banality at Missoni, but texture was equally significant here, in the way, for instance, that a superficially simple tank dress was intarsia'd from a dozen different ribs of knit.
Missoni has been looking for a way into the future. This collection suggested one route. The clothes were definitely a nod to the urban rather than the artisan. If the overcoats, parkas, oversize vests, jogging and cargo pants harked back to the men's collection in January, the skinny-rib tops and casually wrapped skirts had a purely feminine ease. (Ali MacGraw at her most iconically fashionable? Not so, insisted Margherita Missoni, but nevertheless an appealing reference point.) And the color palette guaranteed the ease had oomph. Orange and yellow were the accents. Even when they weren't visible, they were lurking as linings.
