Thanks to a bold shoulder and some innovative fabrications, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi mixed up their masculine/feminine back and forth today and made progress. As the pendulum swung between mannish (defined by tailoring) and less so looks, the color story circled more lazily from monochrome to vibrant to metallic to black again. The coats were often very good, finely cut with a powerful profile, and ranged in fabrications from a stately angora wool gray to a Prince of Wales check, shimmeringly overlaid with transparent sequins. The oversized checkerboard jacket, however, while fine in isolation, didn’t work particularly well in conjunction with knee-length fitted shorts—she looked as if she’d failed to get fully changed in the elevator while coming up to a meeting she’d cycled to. Also, these coats were often determinedly cinched at the waist by wide belts tucked into themselves at the back. These compromised the line of the coats to no real purpose. Plus, imagine the palaver of taking them off in the real world.
The beefy-armed black leather dress was sleek and vaguely sinister—hit woman businesswear—and the dresses in aluminum chainmail (colored gold and blue) were spectacularly light for garments that looked so heavy. Although the check coat above it was attractive, it would have been pleasing to see the blue pantsuit beneath in full. Why? Because if there is a garment that represents the middle ground these designers profess to explore, it is surely that one.
