Milan Fashion Week Off to Sailing Start

In the first top show of Milan Fashion Week, Giorgio Armani abandoned his minimalist and classic 80s look for a nautical theme. Showing stripes galore, Armani displayed a choreographed collection of vertical stripes on satin trousers, diagonal stripes on fitted jackets and many a blue tone, all in theme for an easy summer. Catching on to the light breeze of the twenties that's blowing through fashion, he charted a course for the season with a breeze of navy and white colours and translated them into his penchant for supple fabrics and easy cuts.

What nautical is to Armani next season, so British weather was the inspiration behind Chris Bailey's Burberry collection. Based around the theme of summer showers, Bailey called in a little help from stylish friends Kate Moss and Stella Tennant, to show one of his most accomplished collections to date. Made to look as if you just got caught in the rain, washed out pastels and ivory whites blended into shirtings and gauzes. Even the beautiful leather jackets looked as if they hadn't seen a brolly in years. Spending most of his time in Milan, Bailey is clearly still in touch with the edginess of London style, and took the tomboyish look off the London streets and incorporated it into his nonchalant looks.

As for the classic trench, an item now so synonymous with Burberry it carries it's own trademark, it was cut neat and to the knee in putty colored leather and others that transformed into a bolero with storm flaps. And if you think the check disappeared, think again. Found on white-edged clutches and umbrellas, the signature remains as strong as ever.

Other highlights so far were D-Squared, the off-beat Canadian twins who delivered a fifties-era American bad girl at the diner look. Pinups, stilettos, and lots of eyeliner set the mood for the show. Whether or not you think this is fresh and fashionable is debatable. Judging by the crowd, however, who turned out en force, the twins are on a definite high on the Italian fashion scene.