As the Luisa Spagnoli fall show unfurled, one could easily picture a French girl leaving town on a Friday night to head to Deauville, the chic resort town of ’50s fame.
She may want to toss a faux fur-collared cloak coat over a miniskirt and blouse to then change into rib knit sets, this collection’s defining look, comprising a midi skirt and cardigan with chunky gold buttons, all in an autumnal palette of burgundy, olive green and winter white.
Milan designers have had a thing for cozy and cocooning styles this season and the resort whiffs conjured by the designer seemingly took those feelings toward the après-ski gear, loungewear — read knit-rich — and bon chic bon genre.
Donning colorful beanies and mary jane kitten heels with rib knit socks, models strode the runway to cliché French songs, from Vanessa Paradis’ “Joe le Taxi” to “À 200 à l’heure” by Francis Lai. They wore tonal looks including knitted overalls held together at the back by crisscross, vintage ski suit-like logoed suspenders; knit tulip frocks; macramé and sequined-speckled variations of the knit set, as well as snakeskin-printed skirt suits and bell-bottom pants worn beneath trenchcoats.
The show would have benefited from a tighter edit and less repetition, but the sugary atmosphere the collection evoked was in the end alluring.
