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Giorgio Armani tapped a Mediterranean vibe for his womenswear collection for next spring and summer on Monday, while D&G found inspiration in Glastonbury Festival for hippy flares and flounces.
Armani cropped loose satin Turkish trousers above the knee and tied them with bows in sand, rock grey and marine blue.
Models wore fine mesh nets over their hair and the fishing theme was extended to shawls and shoulder shrugs in a lattice worn with slim silk evening gowns.
To a backing track of typical southern Italian songs with more than a hint of North African drumbeats, models slouched down a black and light striped catwalk for a laid-back mood.
Armani used gauzy grey mini sarongs to offset sparkling vests or picked sea green to highlight grey silk on a long dress with a bustier bodice.
The designer took classic navy and twisted it with thin cream stripes for bias-cut skirts and shirts and kept up the uneven look for skirts with layers of varying lengths in black or silver.
Shoes were unusually high and glittery for Armani, while bags in midnight blue or black were held by one strap or clutched.
Armani was also presenting his new mobile phone - a sleek, black model designed with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. He also plans a television set and other home electronics.
At D&G, the stablemate of Dolce & Gabbana, the designers went to Glastonbury Festival, a British rock festival, for a collection that abandoned their usual gold and animal print for a hippie mix of florals, fringes and patched-up jeans.
D&G swung models down the catwalk in big tent dresses with drawstring necks in a collage of gypsy reds, black and white.
Jeans had wide, wide legs which designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana described as "elephant foot," covered in enough patches to make a Tom Sawyer proud.
Men's pullovers in grey or chestnut worn with oversize white shirts made for an almost hand-me-down chic look.
And flat leather sandals with rope-ties at the ankle, or floppy leather hats completed the nod to the pop festival theme.
The designers' Dolce & Gabbana main line will be presented later this week and Armani's Emporio Armani collection shows on September 26.
Gianfranco Ferre's womenswear collection - his last designs before he died in June - was full of flowing, billowing silks and loose fitting cottons that rippled with every movement.
Trousers were extra long over high-heeled, thick-soled shoes, and in soft silks or jersey that swung lazily as the models walked along a mirrored catwalk.
Echoing a trend at D&G and earlier shows, Ferre gave trousers wide legs, but added a high waist or cummerbund size belts for a 1940s film star swank.
An ivory satin pair sat easily beneath a ghost-like cream blouse with full sleeves and parchment texture lapels.
Ferre, whose successor has yet to be named, had shown his skills with leather, too, in intricate trellis-worked jackets in straw yellow or chocolate brown.
Evening gowns were great gulps of gauzy fabric, knotted at shoulder or breast, and seemed to eschew zips or buttons.
Milan's shows continue until September 29 with leading designers such as Gucci, Versace and Prada still to come as the city works to keep its pre-eminence in the face of an effervescent London.
- REUTERS
