Armani, Burberry bring cool nostalgia to Milan

MILAN (Reuters) - Retro chic ruled at Milan fashion week on Monday as Giorgio Armani conjured up the serene elegance of a bygone era and Dolce e Gabbana's D&G label picked up screaming colors and clinging hotpants from the 1980s.

Armani's models could have stepped straight out of The Great Gatsby, dressed in floating silk trousers with cummerbunds or liquid rippling dresses, their classic poise underlined by the designer's signature palette of beige, black and white.

Fashionistas moan that Armani rarely invents something new, but the veteran designer shrugs off criticism by pointing to his enduring success with the buying public.

The spring/summer 2007 collection celebrated the decadent glamour Armani does best, with models slowly, slowly sashaying along in fluid evening gowns with crystal details and wide-brimmed hats, while trousers were worn with flat sandals.

"It's a calm, elegant aesthetic, an easy chic," white-haired, perma-tanned Armani told reporters after the show, adding that he wanted to recall "a time when a girl wearing a hat at a rakish angle would be something new."

Armani is also a shrewd businessman with a keen sense for wearable clothes that sell.
"We sell a lot of evening gowns, there's a public that wears evening gowns ...and women love trousers, everyone can wear them -- beautiful legs, ugly legs, short legs, long legs," he said.