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Italian Fashion - Fall 2006 - Let's Go Shopping!

Judith Ayotte Greenwood

If someone says something like "formal shorts", I am left with only a mystery. It seems to me that sometime in the early 70s there were sequined and beaded hot pants that showed up at night, but I don't think anyone thought of them as formal. It rather seemed like a blow against formality.

Until now. Girls are wearing what are called "formal shorts" in the media all around the towns. There doesn't appear to be an Italian word for this. Two years ago I saw tweed trousers that stopped above the ankle. They must have shrunk, because it looks like the same trousers only they stop just above the knee.

Fall Short Pants

This is the longest version and ends just under the knee

Fall Shorts

This is the more common shorter short

It's only a short step from the jeans shorts they wore with boots this past summer, but now that it's cold they wear high heeled pumps. Hardly any of them even take the conservative step of wearing tights with them. So, are they formal because they're often worn with snug matching jackets? Are they less formal if topped with a bulky sweater? A down jacket? They are worn tight, often tight enough to create a ridge where they end. Nobody seems to notice!

And see, Furla has boots to cover those calves, and not dull ones, either.

Fall Shoes and Bags

The window at Furla

Otherwise, it's more jeans, more minis and more down coats.

Fall Pink

The window at Pink/Deisel

Tweeds are everywhere, and the ultimate expression in tweed may well be the snug tailored jacket with frayed edges. It's on everyone from 16 to 70, it seems, and it looks good on them all. Here are two tweedy windows at Luisa Spagnoli and they were the happiest windows I saw - all honey and dried leaf colors.

Fall Spagnoli