During Vogue Fashion's Night Out on Tuesday in Milan, Missoni was selling packets of temporary tattoos featuring family ancestor Captain James Misson, whose quest for independence led him to establish a pirate utopia in Madagascar in the late 17th century. Whatever the (undoubtedly hideous) reality, the notion was so saturatingly romantic that it made a perfect prelude to the collection Angela Missoni showed today. She sagely decided that her pre-collection had dealt with Spring, so this outing was going to be all about summer—happiness, lightness, sun-drunk indolence. Airy volumes billowed like the sails of a pirate ship catching the wind.
The show was an artful journey, from the opalescence of early morning to the blaze of sunset. But from first look to last, there was a languid, dishabille consistency. Men's shirts writ large in floral-print silk were casually draped over long, lacy skirts or floor-sweeping palazzo pants. There were sensational flaring coats in lace knit double-faced with nylon tulle—a knitwear breakthrough for Missoni, because it created a perfect paradox: substance with a gossamer lightness. The embroidered flowers only made the coats better. The simplest shapes—a smock, a shift—were elongated and energized by finely graded colors. The sheer prettiness of the clothes was amplified by Lucia Pieroni's makeup and Paul Hanlon's hair team, twisting scarves into turbans to add an irresistible Orientalist tinge to the show.
Anyone craving weight in the lightness can rest assured there is summer black back in the showroom. Angela's daughters, Margherita and Teresa, were wearing it at the show today. And following last night's Prada triumph, soundtrackist Frédéric Sanchez deserves added kudos for uncovering a version of "Nothing Compares 2U" in Chinese.
