Missoni Womenswear A/W12

There seems to be a theme going on in Milan. Three of the city’s heavyweights have recently done collaborations with lower end chains (Versace and Marni with H&M and Missoni with Target in the USA) and that seems to have given cause for all three to re-examine what their mainline is all about, and have yielded positive and directional results. The language of Missoni has become a universally known one and so Angela Missoni has hopped upon a backstory for the season that pushes the family knits to new levels. “I was thinking of a metropolitan girl dreaming that she wants to be a heroine in a fantasy, someone who disappears in nature so we looked to recreating those effects of wood, stone and crystal.  For instance, in that last dress, she looked like she was almost reborn from earth, with some mud attached to the dress,” explained Angela Missoni after the show.

I was thinking of a metropolitan girl dreaming that she wants to be a heroine in a fantasy, someone who disappears in nature so we looked to recreating those effects of wood, stone and crystal.  For instance, in that last dress, she looked like she was almost reborn from earth, with some mud attached to the dress

The shade of brown seeping into a burnt orange on that finale dress, may have evoked mud but there was nothing muddled about what Missoni was trying to achieve this season.  This fusing of Missoni knits with shades of the natural world meant that the house’s technical prowess could really be fully exercised, with colours running from oxidized copper to granite grey to mossy green to earthy brown, punctured by intricate embroidery, degrade and beading to achieve the correct textures.  What really gave the collection its swaggering verve was the idea that these nature-derived knits should be placed within the context that this season, the girl needs some form of protection. “They are strong girls, as girls today have to be, but they want to keep their heart and keep that softness so they have to protect themselves.” The Missoni girl had a few things in her arsenal to do so - some unexpected latex faux polo necks (a first for Missoni), cropped cross-over cache-coeurs (pull overs) that encased the arms and crystal necklaces that accentuated the spiritual nature of this collection. The silhouette was kept long and lean with all layers belted high up and tapered down stacked heel knee boots. Even if the girl was dreaming up a world where water, earth, fire and wind were sartorial shifting forces, this was a collection very much rooted to reality.