Keeping the bold standard

Milan, Italy — If there was any buzzword for fashion week, which wrapped up here over the weekend, it was "minimalism," the logical turnaround from several seasons of clothes dripping with a chandelier's worth of crystals. But when Stefano Gabbana sat in his sprawling palazzo the day before the Dolce & Gabbana show, previewing his black and navy collection, with an unfinished tweed jacket sewn with tulle flowers in one hand, and a mink-trimmed boot in the other, he spit out the word like a piece of rotten fruit: "Minimalism -- never!"

In one dynamite show, Gabbana and Domenico Dolce mapped out an alternate route to fashion's future, straddling the line between vintage and modern, conservative and sexy, dull and overly duded.

The designers recently ended their romantic relationship (a development much-discussed among the fashion crowd here). But on the runway they were simpatico, drawing inspiration from swinging 1960s London, along with the offbeat chic of Chloe Sevigny. The indie "Boys Don't Cry" actress, who has the kind of style that enables her to mix a pair of vintage hot pants with today's Balenciaga jacket and look great, opened the show in a fur-trimmed coat belted at the waist and chunky square-toed pumps, her long, loose blond hair combed high at the crown into a kind of Julie Christie coif.

The clothes were luxurious with what must have been a herd's worth of astrakhan and broadtail fur trim, but not so overly embellished that a woman wearing them would look like yesterday's fashion news. They were also surprisingly covered-up coming from the bra strap and corset kings.

The new silhouette was a short boxy jacket paired with a long slim skirt, fastened on the side with an oversized button and slit up the leg for sex appeal. Skirts also came knee-length and shorter, mostly in menswear tweeds, Prince of Wales checks or navy wool, with wide astrakhan or crocodile waistbands. On top, they were balanced with feminine silk blouses, subtly trimmed in lace.

The only pants were jeans, cropped and studded around the ankle, worn with striped sailor shirts and chunky pumps or flats in colorful crocodile with small buckles. There were plenty of wool coats with fur collars, cuffs and hems. High fur caps, jeweled chain-link belts and cross necklaces were reminiscent of Romanov treasures.