Best and Worst of Milan Fashion Week

With economic stresses making it more difficult for designers to be creative—and the growing trend of manufacturing being outsourced to other countries—the Italian spring collections in Milan were somewhat “joyless,” but still offered a few standouts, writes Cathy Horyn for the New York Times. The good:

• Angela Missoni: Her “clothes merit attention” because “virtually every garment was a knit”—proving her willingness to ask how historical techniques “could be aired out.”

• Bottega Veneta: “Can be a little precious,” but this time offered “a far more engaging and individual view of dressing.”
• Jil Sander: “If you want to see what is possible in contemporary fashion when you ‘let go,’ look at this collection. Each effect plays with your senses. At the same time, the line of the clothes is undeniably chic."

And the not-so-good:

• Pucci: “Sexy leather jackets with slouchy silk pants and hot booties...lead Pucci out of its print comfort zone, but didn’t actually lead us anywhere."
• Marni: Striped leggings offered “a zany Seuss touch,” but “it was hard to see what was distinctive about silky layers over leggings.”
• Karl Lagerfeld: “Heavy on beige,” his show “made you think a giant pair of old pantyhose had fallen over Milan.”

See runway highs and lows from these designers and more in the slideshow to the left.
(More Milan stories.)