Before the Ports 1961 show got started tonight, Charlotte Rampling's distinctive voice came over the sound system. She was monologuing about shooting her first black-and-white nudes with the photographer Helmut Newton in the seventies. Talk about tantalizing material! It was a lot to live up to for this Italian sportswear label, but designer Fiona Cibani delivered one of her stronger collections. Rampling, no surprise, was her muse, and if you were looking for it, you could detect the ever so slightest nod to The Night Porter in the two sets of overalls, both worn with their bibs draped from the waist. Then again, maybe not—overalls are trendy at the moment.
Generally speaking, this was a story about military-influenced tailoring: black wool flared sailor pants and crisp white cotton shirts, a peacoat with a prodigious lamb's fur collar, a seductively cut leather trench, plate-buckle belts cinching almost every look. Providing a fluid counterpoint to all that rigor were pleated kilts slung from the hips. A long silk version in olive drab looked smart paired with a clingy, deep-V-neck tee featuring patch pockets on the chest. Cibani's real coup, however, was coming up with the sexiest dress of Milan fashion week so far. Cut from a silver and black crocodile jacquard, it wrapped closed with a double row of buttons like a peacoat, but with its hourglass curves there was nothing masculine about it.
