Fall 2008 Fashion Week: Top 10 Most Interesting Trends from Milan

1. DIVINELY DEMURE

top: Prada, Moschino Cheap & Chic, 6267, DSquared2
bottom: Versace, Daks by Giles Deacon, Etro

Ever since Olivier Theyskens began sending Gibson era girls down the runway in floor-length, ruffled skirt suits, chanelling a Victorian vibe at Rochas in Fall 2005 and again in Spring 2006, an aggressively demure vibe has been slowly creeping up on the collections. In her review of the Alessandro Dell'Acqua Fall 2008 show, fashion writer Sarah Mower even remarked on it, identifying "a tide of sinister eroticism seeping into things this season." The mega-influential Prada show was dominated - of all things - by hand-tatted Swiss guipure lace (granny-approved, yet somehow lustworthy), and typically va-voom pro-skin Italian designers Versace and Roberto Cavalli both showed a number of cleavage-free dresses (!) in positively chaste hemlines ranging from just below the knee to dragging on the floor; and a particular Versace standout was a vibrant cherry/coral hued frock which highlighted the face with a gathered, standup collar...revealing its sex appeal only from behind with a swathe of exposed back.

From the visually awkward mid-calf length to ankle- and floor-grazing for daytime, for Fall 2008, Milan was awash in high necklines, dominant shoulders, the voluminous cello silhouette that dominated the London shows, and miles of skin-covering fabric - ruched, fur-trimmed, fringe adorned, arranged into oversize face-framing ruffles and dramatic shoulders. Instead of being about "it" bags and red carpet frocks, the sporty dressed-down vibe of the (unfortunately uninspired) Marc Jacobs show dominated, fortunately taking more inspired shape here in a wonderful array of fabulous trousers, color-drenched prints, scarves jauntily tied around the neck as an ascot or adorning a purse, stylish day dresses, tough-chic leather, and the highlight of the Marc Jacobs show: oodles of heavy-duty accessories, including bodacious bangles, bib necklaces, buckles & studded trim.

Here are the Top 10 Most Interesting Trends from the Fall 2008 Milan Fashion Week: