Designers in Italy make decency the key

It is almost a year since Silvio Berlusconi, who had been Italy’s long-serving prime minister, was sentenced for tax fraud and banned from public office.

Since his attitude to women and his role as a television mogul had given Italian female presenters a hyped-up, over-sexed glamour, it is a relief to see that the Berlusconi look is on the wane.

Two of the up-and-coming designers at Altaroma pursued a path of grace and decency, which seemed fresh and fashion-worthy for spring 2015.

Greta Boldini designers Michela Musco and Alexander Flagella’s presentation of pale, softly tailored, streamlined outfits brought in porcelain colours from cream to

The inspiration was David Lynch’s <Mulholland Drive>, the musical melody of Lana Del Rey and the concise emotion of Edward Hopper’s paintings.

I liked the easy modern elegance of the dresses, and of tops with narrow trousers or full skirts – all suggesting the reality of twenty-first-century women’s lives.

At Esme Vie, designer Julia Voitenko had taken her look forward, drawing a full, feminine wardrobe from short, princess-line dresses to a similarly ladylike look where gowns swept downwards (but didn’t look retro).

The feminine colours included all shades of rose from pink to wine, and pastel blue or deeper turquoise. Floral decoration at the neck had a certain innocence.

Both designers make clothes with the fine fabrics of the Italian heritage. And they proved that there are more facets to fashion than the Berlusconi in-your-face females.