The lights finally dimmed at Emilio Pucci tonight when Kylie Minogue walked in a cool 45 minutes late. Actually, let's make that hot. The pop star was wearing a scandalously short gold lace dress by Peter Dundas from Fall. She's one of many boldfacers who've been seduced by the designer's sexy new take on this Florentine house. Jada Pinkett Smith was also in attendance, which (this is a first) made Pucci one of the most celebrity-studded shows in Milan.
Dundas' seventies-inflected Spring collection is mostly long, but it has his sultry signatures all over it. He's building a house on a Greek island, and the show had an unmistakable Mediterranean vibe, all sea blues and spice colors—the Cyclades by way of the subcontinent. "Bohemian beachcomber done luxe" is how the designer rather aptly described it beforehand. The first few dresses were souped-up riffs on the traditional Greek shirt, with a scrolling blue design on ruffled and flounced white cotton, washed for a lived-in feel. Clingy jersey T-shirt gowns in archival Pucci prints went to India and back for the tie-dyeing that gave them their sun-faded look.
Alongside those and other frocks in guipure lace and broderie anglaise embroidered with tiny mirrors and pompoms—India, again—was more of the strong tailoring Dundas showed for Fall. Schoolboy blazers and low-slung flares mixed it up with whipstitched leathers and an aged python safari shirt with leather lacing that was reminiscent of Yves Saint Laurent.
This collection won't necessarily score Dundas any points for trailblazing; the seventies are everywhere this season, after all. But no one has evoked them with more conviction, or a more exuberant touch for handcrafted details. Jada and Kylie, by the way, had one word for it: "love."
By Nicole Phelps
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