Backstage tonight, Angela Missoni declared of her womenswear, “Everything is knit, even if it looks like it isn’t.” What her family’s knitting machinery can do—has done over the course of 65 years—is truly remarkable. The new Fall collection made a showcase of that variety, from the chunky ikat-pattern coat that opened the show to the fine-gauge black and white vertical stripe tunic dress that closed it.
To Missoni’s point, there was quite a bit here that you wouldn’t guess was knit—the icy gray chevron jacquard pantsuit, for starters, and most of the chunky cardigan coats, which were boldly patterned. One of those coats was embellished with black and white guinea fowl feathers. Its graphic appeal was not insignificant, but the real attraction will be how it feels on the body: substantial and warm, obviously, but not heavy.
Some of the finer-gauge, Lurex-shot pieces had the opposite effect; they were so weightless they were almost transparent—a somewhat tricky proposition. Horizontally applied sequins on an ankle-grazing tank dress provided the kind of coverage most women want. The men’s looks blended knits with wovens in compelling textures such as wide-wale corduroy, or in eye-catching motifs like ombré. Substantiality is what gave this collection’s outerwear its potential. The big statement-makers included a generously cut number in a colorful tapestry pattern and a narrow, neatly tailored style in the house signature raschel zigzag.
