Milan Fashion Week: Fendi, Pucci, & Max Mara

Milan designers looked to the sea and the forest for inspiration for warm weather looks being previewed during Milan Fashion Week.

After a drenching opening day, the sun came out for the second day of womenswear previews for next spring and summer on Thursday, lightening moods and allowing the fashion crowd again to show off its style prowess on the streets of Milan, after a day spent dashing from cabs and cars to umbrellas.

Some highlights from Thursday's shows:

FENDI
Maid Marian wouldn't have needed Robin Hood to defend her in these threads and skins.

Karl Lagerfeld's new looks for Fendi projected both feminine strength - with braided leather mimicking bodice armor - and romanticism, with the flowing chiffony skirts and smocked fronts. She is a soft warrior, who only brings out her menacing side when warranted, striding through the forest in woven leather panties and a leather top with braided neckline, or more stealthily in a silken bubble mini-dress with blousy sleeves and a smocked bodice.

Silvia Venturini Fendi said the looks belonged in a "concrete forest," pointing to the angular sculpted trees decorating the showroom walls.

"It is childish in a way. Also the craftsmanship. The flowers, the smocking, and the braiding, the micro-stitching," Fendi said.

The colors were that of the forest, with olive greens approaching browns, while opposing shades of reds or blues were mixed together. Models wore a strong stripe of eye shadow at the brow, a pretty war paint. Shoes were mostly sculpted high heels in leather, at times multi-colored, and also satin.

Fendi being Fendi, there were also summer furs, good for the forest, but "good also in the air conditioning," quipped Fendi.

PUCCI
Massimo Giorgetti took cues from the natural world for his first collection as creative director at Pucci, sending a hint of the natural wonders to come with the invitation adorned with a colorful melange of feathers.

And there were feathers, and fur, and even a flash of a tropical print, but the dominant reference was the sea.

Models appeared to be playfully caught in net dresses, along with a catch of colorful fish adorning the frocks. In keeping with the theme, pearls accented the high-heeled and flat sandals, while big dangly earrings that resembled fish bones hung from one ear.

Giorgetti mixed materials and styles for his debut Pucci collection, layering strappy sequin dresses over long-sleeve lace or pleated sheaths. In one of his more inventive plays, the designer created a graphically inspired leather bodice worn, in one instance, over a peach pleated sheath.

He also played with volumes with sheer black or white tops with matching sheer pants, decoratively adorned with dramatic appliques of like-colored shells, which cleverly created modesty.

Fur softened slippers, a Milan trend in recent seasons. Feathers, rather than mere accents, appeared as a 2-D print.

MAX MARA
Max Mara looks for next summer are a little bit Long John Silver, Captain Ahab and saucy wench all thrown in together.

Max Mara reinterpreted nautical looks with a slightly off-kilter yet disciplined rendering of popular themes. There were stripes, sturdy chords and shiny buttons all in a row to be sure, but all deployed with whimsy.

Nautical rope was both a motif on silken printed dresses, and a material, forming chunky drawstrings on the hemline or the plunging back of a spicy top. The look was suggestive of a stylish sack the likes of which never saw the inside of a ship's hull.

Childlike motifs kept up the light-hearted spirit of the collection, with porpoises, seagulls and sails printed on leather sailor's duffels and the brand's flagship JBag.

The season's must-have T-shirt features a portal hole showing a sailing ship on calm seas. Stars branded sweaters and decorated suits with double-breasted jackets, deliberately unevenly buttoned, and wide-legged, high-waist trousers. Shirt sleeves were worn long, covering the hands. Shoes were chunky platforms, while the color palette stayed true to the theme with red, yellow and navy blue.