Milan Fashion Week: Missoni Fall 2009

March 5th 2009

by Lily Stein

Milan Fashion Week presents Angela Missoni’s Autumn/Winter 2009-2010 collection.

Angela Missoni, an heiress of a house with one of the most distinctive signatures in fashion, has done much to continue her parents’ work which is both a blessing and a challenge for her.

Of course, she is great in creating knitwear items, but it can be a bit complicated to start something new and unusual for the brand.

For fall Missoni decided to stay true to the label’s knitwear traditions and produced plenty of fabulous pieces. The line was made in a “cool and slightly hip-hop” mood.

The latter influenced the soundtrack mostly, while the clothes played more like an upbeat romp through the land of luscious knits.

Somehow an Arabia spirit affected the garments as well. The most evident prove for that is layers – lots of layers. Long and short cardigans, some trailing into extra-long scarves; lamé miniskirts and shorts; boxy men-inspired coats; silk slip dresses; ribbed leggings and great leg warmers; and plenty of hooded scarves.

Frankly speaking I am a scarf-lover, that is why those terrific scarves seem to be the best for me in this collection.

The models wore them loose, with the ends nearly trailing along the floor; or wound around necks like shawls, in such cases coats were redundant; and even a few scarves were worn together – apparently scarves in all those shapes became the collection’s leitmotif.

Besides, I liked the coats much. Partially they were men’s wear-inspired and looked a bit too sharp but generally combined with flowing scarves they were rather pretty-looking and by all means cozy.

All the pieces in the collection tend to provide warmth and comfort, something that we favor much in autumn and winter.

Leg warmers and leggings presented in the line look nice and undoubtedly appropriate for wearing wherever you go, except for, maybe, formal meeting or a party.

To create a more extravagant look, Missoni interspersed her knitwear with tufts of fur for headbands and bags, as well as scarves.

I am not sure this would be treated well by PETA but it looks great.

The luminous color palette—pearly pink, peach, and gold lamé punched up with celestial blue—certainly helped to achieve the great effect Angela had hoped for.