The new woman is all business

MILAN – So long, sex kitten. At Milan Fashion Week, the new fashion icon is the working woman.

The D&G show was Miss Moneypenny meets 1950s coed, which means it’s time to dig out that kilt from the back of the closet. And you can forget about hemming it punk-rock short. The new length for fall is mid-calf and modest.

D&G’s retro prep look included bow-front blouses, argyle twin sets, fabulous hybrid loafer-boots and silk kerchiefs tied under the chin. They kept things from being too dowdy with mismatched tartans, exposed zippers on the backs of kilts, ruffle trim on chiffon blouses and the odd glam touch, such as a bushy red fur vest.

Psychedelic paisleys came into play toward the end of the show, like the freewheeling 1960s encroaching on the moral conservatism of the ’50s. A tartan skirt with a paisley border along the hem was adorable, as were paisley flared pants.

To the working woman, Jil Sander is more anti-fashion than fashion, with precision-cut suits that have just enough of an edge to make them interesting but not too much to make them frivolous.

Well, change is afoot in the fall collection. After several seasons of perfecting the straight-arrow silhouette, Raf Simmons brought curves into his vocabulary. He framed the face and shoulders with oversized, sculptural collars on dramatic coats, and used darts to decorative effect on shift dresses.

Seams became ornamental, shaping the side of an incredible-looking black jacket, worn with straight trousers and shoes with saber-tooth-like heels, which seemed too fussy (and treacherous) for the Sander customer.

Fabrics and textures were amazing, including a black-and-white bouclé coat, with bunched fabric shaping the waist, that brought to mind Sanskrit. But there were too many ideas here, enough for several collections.

Missoni looked better than it has in a long time – streamlined and grown-up. The dominant look was a pair of masculine trousers worn with an interesting-looking pullover sweater (an off-the-shoulder, cross-front, asymmetrical or tunic style), layered over a turtleneck. It’s a nice alternative to the suit for the office, and the color palette was gorgeous: green, turquoise, pomegranate, marigold and chocolate brown.

Giorgio Armani, whose legacy is perfecting the notion of power dressing, refuses to revisit it. The king of minimalism is now the king of maximalism, so there were long, gypsy floral skirts weighted down with crystals, balloon-shaped pants, capes, even woolly mammoth coats. In between, per usual, the best looks were simplest – short satin jackets, worn with full velvet trousers.

The clothes at Emporio Armani were more menswear inspired, with flared jackets over wide-cut, cuffed leather trousers that almost hit the mark, but not quite.

booth.moore@latimes.com