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MILAN - Berlin's modern, bustling feel inspired Donatella Versace to use structured shapes and blocks of color in her womenswear collection today, while Dolce & Gabbana kept a demure mood in tartans and checks.
"I did a trip to Berlin recently and ... the city inspired me very much," the designer said before the show.
"Berlin is a city still happening, a lot of architecture ... the modernism of the city inspired this collection," she said.
That inspiration translated into short dresses in monotone black or bright pink or neon yellow which were sculpted and strapped - a much tougher look than usual for the designer.
Backs were to the fore as Versace put most of the detail behind, keeping dress fronts clean-lined.
The urban inspiration burst out in a cityscape print on a series of short dresses in stark yellow, pink and purple.
Straps were swirled backwards into sills that perched over bottoms or criss-crossed asymmetrically into a blueprint back.
Versace used a block of three wide pleats to bring a swing to the back of a dress, or switched them to one side for a wave-like wing.
"It's all based on volume ... that stays away from the body, not too constricting and not too revealing," she said.
Shoes were strappy bronze sandals with skyscraper heels or high, heavy platforms.
Demure at Dolce &Amp; Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana tried out an unusually demure tweed-and-tartan look for their collection, but could not resist giving each outfit a twist in silver shoes or poodle-fur style jackets.
The checks were a more somber, grown-up version of the red and black tartans seen at the designers' more informal D&G line on Monday, in muted grays, blacks and mulberry.
Ample skirts were down to mid-calf and trousers were straight. The designers used jumbo cord for some outfits in chestnut and caramel for a conservative, country air.
Dolce & Gabbana, once best known for their sexy, leopard print looks, even used Grace Kelly-style silk scarves tied at the neck, or gracing a handbag strap.
Flat caps and skinny rib jumpers added to the no-nonsense mood.
Light touches came in silver sparkle high-heeled shoes, worn with an iron grey three-piece trouser suit, or a long waistcoat of poodle-fur fabric over a muted check mid-calf dress.
A brown patchwork 1970s style leather jacket sat jauntily over a brown tweed long skirt and a business blue shirt.
Dolce & Gabbana played with fabrics that looked like seal pup fur in a soft grey full-skirted dress, or dabbled in lace, which Prada featured in her show on Tuesday.
The finale came in dresses with frothing, layered net skirts that looked like Marie Antoinette petticoats, with swathes of tweed, or cream knit, or grey raindrop print silk sewn onto them to give an impression of glamour straight off the cutting floor.
- REUTERS
