Sending a Textural Message

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/fashion/sending-a-textural-message.html

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MILAN — It may sound as dull as a piece of flannel, but plays on texture are the big story of the Milan season.

Handling this mix and mismatch and playing with unexpected textures is now as important as cut-and-sew.

Bottega Veneta just gets it — and that is the strength of the designer Tomas Maier. “I was thinking about wool,” Mr. Maier said to explain the dominance of the flannel surface, midway between sophistication and naïve craft, in his autumn 2013 collection.

The treatments of both the architecture — sleeves with a fancy shoulder line — and the decoration — colors, scrubbed onto the front of a woolen dress — made for a complex but beautifully realized collection.

Mr. Maier’s thought process, as with any artist, is about perpetually challenging and contradicting himself. At this Academy Awards moment, it is easy to remember the impact of Bottega’s airy, hypermodern materials used for eerily colored, futuristic dresses. But this new collection moved in a different direction: toward the handcraft that is fighting for a comeback in this digital age.

In making the raw refined, Mr. Maier also elaborated on shape, giving layers of tiny wings to shoulders that, along with curly hairdos, gave a 1940s feel to the collection. The use of color was striking: streaky rivulets of red, yellow and curry soaked and brushed on the front of a skirt. All this was as convincing as the androgynous aesthetic of lace-up loafers with thin heels.

And like any powerful designer, Mr. Maier knows that modernity is about moving forward.

Are we to blame the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and its coming exhibition on punk for the explosion of Mohican hairdos, gleaming metal and acres of plaid on the fashion runways?

Donatella Versace had a new word, “vunk,” for the upscale look that her brother Gianni unleashed in the 1980s, immortalized by the image of Elizabeth Hurley wearing a black Versace dress holding together her decency with a line of safety pins.

If only Ms. Versace had been able to capture that sly, sexually charged glamour in her collection, rather than the more predictable styles.

In fact, the show was a jolly romp, showing a sense of humor and guaranteeing the designer an A-list place on the stars who will mount the Met’s red-carpeted steps in May.

But the problem with a one-track show is: What do you wear for the rest of the day? The Versace answer was a fabulous fur in vivid colors, which was a tonic in this upbeat presentation.

Perhaps the black antlers on the walls at the Trussardi show were meant as an act of mourning as much as a striking suggestion of winter, for this is expected to be the last collection by Umit Benan as creative director of the leather brand.

But by stripping down the set and the presentation — for the first time in his two-year stint — the designer captured the absolute essence of Trussardi: The skin is the thing.

The opening coat and the closing one were perfectly tailored in brown wool, with pony skin at the back from nape to waist. How chic they looked, these true winter coats — a nice fit with the brand image, which has a sister, more accessible line called “True Trussardi.”

For Mr. Benan, it was nothing but the best leathers — with a touch of wit in tiger print. (Is any collection complete without one?)

Perhaps because of his start in men’s wear (as with Giorgio Armani or Raf Simons at Dior), Mr. Benan’s strength is in architectural cut. His pantsuit in leather or a dress with a cheeky horizontal zipper across the front or crisp vertical stripes in soft leather could be appreciated all the more, removed from the complex sets Mr. Benan has formally produced. It was a fine swan song.

A Roberto Cavalli show in black and white? Really? What might have seemed a doubtful idea — the designer of vivid color and pattern draining away that signature exuberance — turned out to be a graceful fashion moment. The shades of black and gray suggested a wistful ode to old photography in an age of digital drama.

The dresses may not have been the more familiar multicolored beauties, but even on the runway the detail and workmanship seemed exceptional. The only unfortunate note among these black and white keys was played by the shoes. Too high, too wobbly and too attention-seeking as the models, visibly uncomfortable, walked the runway, the shoes prevented a good show from being great.

Red plaid — there it was again on the dresses at the close of the Aquilano.Rimondi show, where the elevated and historic vision of the fashion duo seemed unlikely to suggest that they would be interested in punk.

Perhaps it was Karl Lagerfeld’s Highland fling with Chanel in December that has led to the clash of the tartans. But whatever its origins, the designers Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi did play graceful with plaid — as well as with the main focus of their show: “Alice in Wonderland.” That familiar fairytale was elegantly expressed as hearts on sleeves and other card symbols worked skillfully into the clothes.

“KAJAL” read the letters in neon at the start and end of the Emporio Armani show. A Japanese wrestling game? Something from cyberspace?

No! The name applied to a range of sweet Indian colors — soft and luminous pastels that Giorgio Armani used for his Emporio line.

The sugary shades finally developed into darker, mineral colors. But the message remained the same: flat plain clothes that looked almost two dimensional, with fabrics like neoprene or airy organza.

Small flowerpot hats and berets added that touch of the 1920s that the designer likes. But once again, the focus was on tactile textiles — the story of the season.